University  of  California. 

FROM   THE    LIBRARY   OF 

DR.    FRANCIS     L  I  E  B  E  R  , 
Professor  of  History  and  Law  in  Columbia  College,  New  York. 


THK  GIFT  OF 

MICHAEL    REESE, 

> 

1873. 

_  _~  _  b 


LECTURES 


ON 


TEMPEEANCE, 


BY 


ELIPHALET  NOTT,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 


PRESIDENT    OF    UNION    COLLEGE. 


WITH   AN   INTRODUCTION 

BY 

TAYLER  LEWIS,  LL.  D., 

PROFESSOR  OF  GREEK  IN  UNION  COLLEGE, 


EDITED   BY 

AMASA    McCOY, 

LATB  EDITOK  OF   "THE  PKOH1BITIONIBT.' 


NEW-YORK: 

SHELDON,  BLAKEMAN  &  CO.,  115  NASSAU  STREET. 

BOSTON:    GOULD    &    LINCOLN. 

CHICAGO :  S.  C.  GRIGGS  &  COMPANY. 

LONDON  I    TRUBNER    <fe    CO. 

1857. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  MDCCCLVII.,  in  the  Clerk's 
Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  SUttts  for  the  Northern  District  of  New- 
York,  by  SHELDON,  BLAKEMAN  &  Co. 


\TEED,  PAESOSB  &  Co..  Printers  and  Stereotypere, 
Albany. 


PEE  FACE. 


THE  Temperance  Reform  long  since  engaged  sufficient  learn 
ing  and  talent  in  its  advocacy  to  rescue  it  from  contempt. 
This  vast  agitation,  which  for  more  than  a  third  of  a  century 
has  stirred  the  mind  and  the  heart  of  society,  has  evolved  a 
literature  of  its  own,  which  is  more  than  respectable.  Yet 
of  the  tens  of  thousands  of  speeches,  sermons,  addresses  and 
lectures ;  the  editorials,  reports  and  prize  essays ;  the  papers, 
tracts,  pamphlets  and  volumes  which  this  prolonged  and 
arduous  discussion  has  elicited,  there  are  no  productions  on 
this  subject  which  are  marked  with  so  much  learning, 
eloquence  and  wisdom,  as  these  eleven  Lectures  by  President 
M  o  i  r. 

The  mature  fruits  of  the  orator,  who,  at  the  age  of  thirty, 
pronounced  a  discourse  on  the  death  of  Hamilton,  which  has 
made  him  famous  for  eloquence  ever  since — the  wise  and 
efficient  President.,  ever  since  that  year  (1804),  of  Union 
College  —  the  beloved  and  honored  preceptor  of  fifty-three 
successive  classes  of  collegians,  and  now  a  patriarch  hardly 
less  of  Temperance  than  of  education ;  the  mature  fruits  of 
so  gifted,  so  experienced,  so  profound,  so  sagacious  an  intellect ; 
the  vivacity  and  fervor  of  the  author's  style ;  the  beautiful 
truth-seeking  spirit  which  marks  his  investigations,  his  tireless 
patience  of  research,  his  unfailing  charity  and  candor  to  all 
opponents,  his  devout  deference  to  the  teachings  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  and  last,  but  not  least^  his  own  great  personal 
renown  ;  these  circumstances  unite  to  concentrate  upon  these 
Lectures  a  degree  of  interest  and  attention  which  is  com 
manded  by  no  other  volume  on  this  vast  social  reform  ;  a 
social  reform,  let  it  be  added,  which,  more  than  all  others 
combined,  engrosses  the  thoughts  and  the  feelings,  the  hopes 
and  the  fears,  of  this  generation  of  men. 


IV  PREFACE. 

Often  as  we  had  read  these  Lectures  before,  and  always 
with  admiration,  instruction  and  delight,  we  rise  from  the 
more  careful  and  critical  perusal  which  is  necessary  to  those 
who  examine  the  proof  sheets  for  the  press,  impressed  with  a 
deeper  sense  of  their  extraordinary  merit,  and  a  larger  appre 
ciation  of  their  power  for  good  over  the  minds  of  others. 
Our  own  experience  would  lead  us  to  urge  even  veteran 
friends  of  Temperance — with  whom  it  is  a  common  mistake, 
that  to  them  no  more  reading  on  the  subject  is  necessary — 
to  study  anew  a  volume  which,  beyond  any  other  ever  pub 
lished,  either  in  America  or  Great  Britain,  goes  further 
towards  exhausting  and  placing  on  an  impregnable  basis,  the 
arguments  in  favor  of  Total  Abstinence  from  all  intoxicating 
liquors. 

Intemperance  is  not  an  evil  of  modern  origin ;  nor  is  it  the 
wise  and  good  of  this  age  alone  who  have  addressed  them 
selves  to  its  cure.  The  physical  and  moral  degradation  with 
which  it  has  cursed  the  world  is  painfully  foreshadowed  in 
the  cases  of  Noah  and  Lot,  as  recorded  in  the  Scriptures ; 
and  the  same  solemn  problem  is  speculated  upon  in  the 
Republic  of  Plato.  In  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  the  third 
book  of  that  immortal  work,  and  which  the  scholars  of  every 
age  have  ranked  among  the  master-pieces  of  human  wisdom, 
will  be  found  the  following  sentence :  "  We  say,  then,  that 
they  must  abstain  from  drunkenness" 

Such  is  one  of  the  maxims  which  have  been  familiar  in  all 
ages.  But  it  was  reserved  for  our  own  age  to  discover  and 
promulgate  the  momentous  truth  which  had  escaped  all  pre 
vious  sages  and  philosophers,  that  "  to  abstain  from  drunken 
ness,"  and  yet  to  continue  to  drink,  is  for  society  at  large  a 
simple  impossibility.  That  to  abstain  from  drunkenness,  men 
must  abstain  from  drink,  that  is,  intoxicating  drink.  These 
doctrines  of  Total  Abstinence  (the  legislative  prohibitions  of 
the  traffic,  which  follow  as  a  logical  sequence,  the  author  has 
not  pretended  to  discuss)  are  the  great  themes  of  these 
Lectures  by  President  Nott.  Availing  himself  of  the  labors 
of  all  who  had  written  and  spoken  before  him,  he  has  reduced 
all  existing  learning  on  the  subject  to  a  system,  and  with  such 
clearness,  beauty  and  power,  that  there  is  no  other  one  volume 
in  the  whole  range  of  Temperance  literature  of  such  perma 
nent  and  standard  authority.  And  if  Temperance,  as  here 
taught,  will  not  raise  man  from  earth  to  heaven,  as  Socrates 
claimed  for  his  philosophy,  it  is  no  small  matter — nay,  in  a 


PREFACE.  V 

nation  with  half  a  million  of  drunkards,  it  is  a  very  great 
matter — if  it  will  raise  him  from  the  gutter  of  the  streets,  and 
bring  him  within  the  influences  of  the  house  of  prayer ;  and 
if,  without  being  religion,  it  may  thus  be  used  to  subserve  the 
Biiblime  and  awful  interests  of  religion,  it  should  assuredly  be 
urged  upon  the  profound  and  attentive  consideration  of  the 
pious  and  the  good  the  country  over. 

We  say,  "  the  pious  and  the  good."  For  it  is  not  to  be 
disguised,  that  notwithstanding  all  the  mighty  things  which 
have  been  done  in  the  way  of  public  enlightenment  on  this 
important  subject,  there  are  not  only  whole  classes  of  society, 
otherwise  well  read  and  intelligent,  who  have  either  forgotten 
or  else  never  knew  the  fundamental  principles  of  Temperance, 
but  there  are  very  many  professed  Christians,  many  ministers 
of  the  gospel,  who  continue  so  far  strangers  to  the  ethics  and 
the  philosophy  of  the  Temperance  reform,  that  their  own  per 
sonal  habits  are  still  quoted  against  the  suppression  of  the 
liquor  traffic,  and  even  the  practice  of  Total  Abstinence. 

Besides,  a  new  generation  has  grown  up  even  in  Temper 
ance  families,  to  whom  these  important  and  vital  truths  have 
never  been  seriously  and  systematically  addressed. 

The  Prussians  have  a  maxim,  that  whatever  you  would 
have  appear  in  the  life  of  a  nation,  you  must  put  in  its  schools. 
The  trustees  of  district  schools,  the  teachers  of  Sabbath 
schools,  and  other  guardians  of  the  young,  should  be  appealed 
to  to  put  one  or  more  copies  of  this  volume  in  every  school 
library  in  the  land. 

The  value  of  this  volume  is  much  enhanced  by  an  able  and 
elaborate  introduction  by  TAYLER  LEWIS,  LL.  D.,  Professor 
of  the  Greek  Language  and  Literature  in  Union  College — a 
man  who  is  equally  eminent  as  an  acute,  original  thinker, 
and  for  his  profound  acquisitions  in  classical  and  biblical 
learning. 

Professor  Lewis  has  expressed  especial  admiration  for  the 
chart  of  Bible  texts,  in  connection  with  wines,  to  be  found 
in  the  appendix  to  the  volume,  and  for  which  chart  alone  an 
eminent  divine  has  said  he  would  pay  ten  times  the  price  of 
the  whole  work,  rather  than  not  have  it  in  his  possession. 

E.  C.  DELAVAN,  Esq.,  the  distinguished  President  of  the 
New-York  State  Temperance  Society,  has  written  a  letter,  in 
which  he  speaks  in  such  terms  as  these  of  the  Lectures  of 
Dr.  Nott : 


V  PREFACE. 

"  It  is  my  belief  that,  in  the  proportion  that  this  work  is  circulated 
and  read,  the  cause  of  Temperance  will  advance  and  be  perpetuated. 

"I  would  urge  all  ministers  of  the  gospel,  all  professing  Christians, 
all  heads  of  families,  all  organized  Temperance  societies,  all  instruc 
tors  in  institutions  of  learning,  from  the  common  school  up  to  the 
university,  to  take  immediate  steps  to  give  universal  circulation  to 
this  work,  called,  by  one  of  our  most  learned  and  benevolent  citizens, 

'  THE  BOOK  OF  BOOKS  ON  TEMPERANCE.' 

"Let  me  urge  all,  in  every  state,  county,  town,  village  and  hamlet, 
whether  on  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic  or  of  the  Pacific,  or  the  interven 
ing  space  between  the  two  (who  desire  the  cause  of  Temperance  to 
advance),  to  Hood  the  publishers  with  orders.  A  million  of  copies  of 
these  Lectures  should  be  sold  in  this  nation.  If  the  work  is  suc 
cessful  in  the  English  language,  it  will  be  published  in  the  German 
and  other  languages,  so  that  our  fellow  citizens  from  all  nations  and 
of  all  languages  can  have  the  benefit  of  the  great  and  important  truths 
contained  in  this  volume. 

"  The  publishers  have  engaged  to  pay  to  the  New- York  State  Tem 
perance  Society  ten  per  cent  on  their  sales,  to  enable  that  Society  to 
extend  still  further  their  labors  of  enlightening  the  public  mind  on 
the  great  and  absorbing  questions  now  at  issue  before  the  public, 
connected  with  the  sale  and  use  of  intoxicating  drinks." 

Such  is  the  estimation  in  which  this  work  is  justly  held 
by  the  most  eminent  philanthropists  of  our  country.  The 
publishers  have  undertaken  to  present  it  to  the  public  in  a 
form  that  must  be  attractive,  and  at  a  price  to  bring  it  within 
the  reach  of  all,  and  to  make  it  convenient  for  associations 
of  the  friends  of  the  cause  to  give  it  a  wide  circulation.  It 
ought  to  find  a  ready  entrance  into  every  house  in  this  and 
other  lands. 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  following  Lectures  produced  a  very  marked 
effect  at  the  time  they  were  delivered,  and  few  works, 
it  may  fairly  be  believed,  have  done  more  to  place  the 
cause  of  temperance  on  elevated,  rational  and  Scrip 
tural  grounds.  The  entire  absence  of  what  some  are 
pleased  to  call  fanaticism,  or  of  anything  that  could 
by  any  possibility  be  brought  under  that  odious  and 
much  abused  name,  the  transparent  candor,  the. 
cogency  as  well  as  clearness  of  argument,  the  patience 
of  examination,  the  deference  to  the  Scriptures,  and 
at  the  same  time  that  spirit  of  fairness  which  wrould 
oppose  their  being  wrested  even  to  serve  what  might 
be  deemed  the  best  interests  of  humanity,  —  add  to 
these  the  learning,  without  pedantry,  the  science, 
without  pretence,  the  calm,  sound  reasoning,  without 
the  imposing  show  of  argumentation,  and  we  have 
the  leading  characteristics  that  must  be  conceded  to 
the  work  by  every  intelligent  and  fair  minded  reader, 
whatever  may  be  his  opinion  on  the  final  merits  of 
the  questions  that  have  called  it  forth.  If  we  allude 
to  the  noble  style  of  the  writer, — that  easy  and  vigor 
ous  command  of  language  which  marked  his  earliest 
widely  spread  productions,  rendered  still  more  attrac- 


Vlll  INTRODUCTION. 

tive  here  by  the  mild  and  mellowed  dignity  of  age,  — 
it  is  simply  done  with  the  truthful  purpose  of  com 
mending  the  book  as  a  most  agreeable  and  instruct- 
tive  classic  to  all  who  have  a  taste  for  elevated 
composition,  who  can  appreciate  true  eloquence  as 
well  as  distinguish  good  wine,  or  who  have  a  relish 
for  the  beauties  of  thought  and  diction,  whether  they 
relish  temperance  or  not. 

A  similar  remark  may  be  addressed  to  those  who 
might  doubt  the  entire  correctness  or  cogency  of  the 
Scriptural  argument  as  here  presented.  Be  that, 
however,  as  it  may,  the  work  has  certainly  other 
merits  demanding  their  attentive  and  careful  perusal. 
Here  is  certainly  much  valuable  Scriptural  informa 
tion,  presented  in  a  lucid  and  striking  form,  and 
which  it  may  be  worth  any  man's  while  to  make 
himself  familiar  with.  Here  are  hidden  things  drawn 
forth  from  classic  research,  which  the  mind  is  all  the 
richer  for  possessing :  more  expanded,  more  liberal, 
endowed  with  a  higher  and  more  humanizing  culture. 
They  have  an  antiquarian  value.  They  bring  us  into 
connection  with  other  social  conditions  widely  differ 
ent  from  our  own,  yet  exhibiting  the  same  unmis 
takable  traits  of  our  common  nature,  the  same 
intimate  connection  between  ever  varying  outside 
physical  facts  and  the  principles  of  an  eternal  and 
immutable  morality. 

The  temperance  argument  from  Scripture,  especially 
in  the  aspect  in  which  it  now  presents  itself  of  total 
abstinence  from  all  that  can  intoxicate,  may  be  regarded 
as  twofold.  It  is  positive  and  defensive.  By  the  first 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

we  mean,  the  direct  bringing  to  bear  upon  the  con 
science  the  law  of  love  or  charity,  as  given  in  the 
precepts  and  exemplified  in  the  actual  or  declared 
conduct  of  Christ  and  his  apostles.  This  argument 
raises  no  question  of  science.  It  has  almost  as  little 
to  do  with  any  question  of  philology.  It  lies  upon 
the  very  face  of  Scripture  in  its  fairest  and  most 
obvious  application  to  a  patent  and  notorious  evil. 
It  takes  its  outside  stand  upon  the  admitted  prevalence 
of  a  most  destructive  vice,  and  the  admitted  difficul 
ties  of  prevention,  made  especially  great  by  the 
introduction  of  new  substances,  new  stimulants,  new 
indulgences,  new  sensual  habits,  all  concurring  to 
produce  a  greatly  changed  condition  of  modern 
society.  It  is  an  application,  to  this  changed  and 
ever  changing  exterior,  of  an  eternal,  never  changing, 
inward  principle.  This  argument  seeks  no  specific 
rule,  it  looks  for  no  unmistakable  denunciations  of 
particular  substances  or  particular  enjoyments,  as 
evil,  per  se ;  it  requires  no  universal  literal  precepts 
of  outward  abstinence,  whose  observance,  on  no 
other  grounds  than  the  literalness  and  specialty  of 
the  terms,  might  degenerate  into  a  dry  asceticism,  or 
an  irrational  superstition,  instead  of  being  favorable 
to  an  elevated  and  spiritual  morality.  It  simply 
presents,  we  say,  a  certain  condition  of  our  modern 
society,  on  the  one  hand,  and  then  brings  to  bear 
upon  it  the  lucid  teachings  of  Christ  in  the  Parable 
of  the  good  Samaritan,  or  the  golden  Law  of  Love, 
or  the  noble  declaration  of  the  Apostle,  "  Wherefore, 
if  meat  make  my  brother  to  offend,  I  will  cat  no  flesh  while 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

the  world  standeth,  lest  I  make  my  brother  to  offend" 
"My  brother!"  Here  is  the  soul  of  the  argument, 
worth  ten  thousand  rules,  per  se.  My  brother !  my 
weak  brother !  my  poor,  vicious,  lost,  ruined  brothers ! 
brothers  to  me  in  Adam,  and  who  may  yet  be  brothers 
to  me  in  Christ !  I  will  abstain,  for  their  sakes,  from 
anything,  from  everything  whose  use  in  me  might 
peril  their  souls,  or  even  tempt  to  ways  destructive 
of  the  poor  measure  of  earthly  good  they  might 
otherwise  enjoy  in  this  stage  of  discipline  and  proba 
tion.  Logically,  it  may  be  summed  in  a  sentence : 
May  there  be  circumstances  in  which  the  higher 
Christian  morality,  the  true  transcendental  ethics, 
would  require  a  man  to  abstain  from  "  meat"  for  the 
sake  of  others,  how  much  stronger  the  argument  now 
to  abstain  from  intoxicating  drinks  on  this  principle 
alone,  without  any  perplexing,  ever  irresolvable  logo 
machies  about  "  rights"  or  wrongs  per  se  ?  Translate 
the  Apostles'  language,  not  the  words  simply,  into  a 
modern  vocabulary,  put  the  soul  of  the  language  into 
the  corresponding  thoughts  that  come  out  of  the 
modem  social  condition,  and  we  have  the  argument, 
a  fortiori  and  a  fortissimo,  for  entire  abstinence  from 
all  those  substances,  whether  old  or  new,  whether 
simple  or  combined,  that  are  now  producing  such 
appalling  desolation  in  our  modem  world. 

This  argument  is  perfect.  It  needs  no  logical  for 
mulas  ;  for  the  sane  mind,  the  sound  mind,  the 
spiritual  mind,  bows  down  before  it  upon  the  first 
simple  presentment  of  its  two  premises,  Christian 
love  and  a  ruined  humanity.  He  who  is  truly  tern- 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

perate,  truly  sober,  truly  tfwcppwv,  whether  in  the  New 
Testament  or  classical  usage  of  that  beautiful  word, 
acknowleges  at  once  its  conclusive  power.     Even  on 
the  lower  scale  of  a  purely  secular  ethics,  and  for  minds 
that  will  ascend  to  no  higher  region,  it  is  unanswer 
able.     What  need  then,  it  may  be  said,  of  anything 
more  ?     Why  should  not  temperance  men  be  satisfied 
with  it,  instead  of  trying  to  show  more  specific  pro 
hibitions,  or  looking  for  more  literal  condemnations 
of  specific  acts  or  substances,  per  se  ?     Why  not  be 
content  with  the  noble  moral  argument  whose  immu 
table  spirit  is  the  same  for  all  ages,  and  capable  of 
prompt  and  conclusive  application  to  the  prevalent 
vice  or  vices  of  any  age  ?     They  are  satisfied  with  it, 
we  answer,  at  least  all  reasonable  friends  of  temper 
ance,  all  who  wish  to  place  the  temperance  cause 
upon  its  highest  ground,  all  who  would  make  it  a 
matter  of  principle,   as  the  New   Testament   does, 
instead  of  such  a  mere  arbitrary  asceticism  or  super 
stition  as  is  taught  in  the  Koran.     They  are  satisfied 
with  this  positive,  clear,  unanswerable,   Scriptural 
argument  for  total  abstinence  from  certain  things  in 
certain  well  ascertained  conditions  of  society  and  the 
world.     They  are  content,  we  say;  but  it  is  their 
adversaries  who  are  not  satisfied.     These  are  the  men 
who  are  for  pressing  the  Bible  into  specific  rules, 
regulative  of  the  outward  thing  instead  of  the  inward 
principle.     They  are  the   men  who   strive  hard  to 
extract  from  the  Scriptures,  not  so  much  specific  con 
demnations  as   specific   commendations   of  what  ia 
known  to  be  evil.     They  are  the  per  se  logicians. 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

They  would  make  out  a  right,  per  se,  very  much  like 
the  sin  per  se  of  others  who  would  seem  to  be  on  the 
opposite  extreme,  and  yet  do  actually  harmonize 
with  them  in  the  spirit  and  principle  of  their 
reasoning. 

Such  is  the  condition  into  which  perversity  of  feel 
ing,  rather  than  any  logical  demand  of  the  intellect, 
brings  the  reasoning  on  this  question,  and  hence  the 
necessity,  on  the  other  side,  of  the  second  Scriptural 
argument,  or  the  one  we  have  styled  the  defensive. 
It  is  to  wrest  this  weapon  from  their  hands.  It  is  to 
show  that  while  the  higher  moral  reasoning  needs 
not  the  aid  of  specific  denunciations  of  particular 
substances,  as  evil  in  themselves,  or  irrespective  of 
their  moral  effects,  so  neither,  on  the  other  hand, 
must  the  adversary  be  allowed,  without  resistance, 
to  maintain  that  any  such  substance  is  a  good  in 
itself,  or  declared  in  Scripture  to  be  such,  in  any  sense 
that  would  not  allow  or  even  demand  a  total  absti 
nence  from  it  in  a  given  social  state. 

The  temperance  advocate  takes  issue  on  this  ground. 
He  denies  that  wine,  the  intoxicating  wine  of  almost 
universal  modern  use,  is  pronounced  a  blessing  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  that,  therefore,  abstinence  from  it, 
total  abstinence,  is  either  a  contempt  or  a  denial  of 
a  good  gift  of  God. 

Such  is  substantially  the  position  taken  by  Dr 
Nott  in  these  Lectures.  The  per  se  ultraists  on  both 
sides  are  avoided.  It  is  a  calm,  dignified,  learned, 
and  we  think,  in  the  main,  successful  argument,  to 
show  that  the  Bible  condemns  the  use  of  certain 


INTRODUCTION.  Xlll 

substances,  not  per  se,  not  from  any  qualities  requiring 
the  aid  of  science  to  ascertain  them  as  such,  not  from 
any  known  or  unknown  chemical  measure  of  alcohol, 
but  because,  according  to  the  knowledge  of  the  day, 
they  were  intoxicating,  and  therefore  had  an  immoral 
influence.  The  physical  or  scientific  causes  may  have 
been,  in  that  age,  very  imperfectly  known,  as  they 
are  now  very  imperfectly  known.  But  such  a  view 
does  not  detract  at  all  from  the  reverence  due  to  the 
real  inspiration.  It  does  not  at  all  diminish — to  a 
right  thinking  mind  it  even  enhances — the  moral 
power.  There  may  have  been,  on  the  part  of  these 
inspired  men,  ignorance,  even  error,  as  to  the  nature 
of  substances  they  approve,  as  well  as  of  substances 
they  condemn.  The  Infinite  in  knowledge  might 
have  made  a  supernatural  advance  in  their  science, 
but  it  would  still,  as  science,  have  been  imperfect,  still 
the  vehicle  of  error,  still  therefore  the  ground  of 
cavil.  It  would  have  removed  no  real  difficulty ;  it 
might,  it  probably  would,  have  created  others  still 
greater.  But  they  had  a  higher  mission.  They 
were  inspired  to  denounce  a  specific  psychological 
or  moral  state  supposed  to  be  produced  by  certain 
causes.  The  state  was  known;  the  causation  was 
imperfectly  understood,  even  as  it  is  yet  imperfectly 
understood ;  for  when  we  say  imperfectly,  it  is  simply 
saying  there  is  something  more,  and  still  something 
more,  and  that  indefinitely,  to  be  discovered  about  it. 
Liebig  is  farther  on,  but,  in  one  sense,  he  is  no 
nearer  the  perfect  end  of  these  things,  even  of  these 
physical  things,  than  Solomon  the  wisest  of  Jewish 


XIV       .  INTRODUCTION. 

naturalists.  The  bare  statement  of  the  thought  is 
sufficient  to  show  that  an  exact  scientific  revelation 
of  the  chemical  components  productive  of  such  a 
pyschological  or  moral  state,  would  be  at  variance 
with  the  whole  known  manner  in  which  the  Infinite 
has  chosen  to  communicate  with  the  finite  mind.  It 
might  be  maintained  morever — we  say  it  with  all 
reverent  reserve  of  any  a  priori  speculations  as  to 
the  reasons  or  modes  of  the  Divine  teaching — that 
such  a  scientific  method  of  revelation  would  have 
defeated  the  great  end  for  which  a  revelation  is  made, 
and  is  alone  worthy  to  be  made.  It  would  have  had 
a  tendency  to  increase  that  which  is  now  the  great 
evil  of  our  fallen  condition, — to  make  the  physical 
predominant  to  the  obscuration  of  the  moral, — to  give 
power  and  knowledge,  especially  natural  knowledge,  a 
higher  place  in  our  souls  than  grace  and  goodness. 
Even  in  the  ethical  region,  it  wrould  have  given  pro 
minence  to  the  ascetic,  and  the  aesthetic,  instead  of 
the  higher  spiritual.  It  would  have  had  a  tendency 
to  make  men  content  with  the  letter,  and  thus,  per 
haps,  as  has  often  been  exemplified  in  our  wayward 
human  history,  have  led  them  to  every  kind  of  device 
to  substitute  a  false  and  carnal  for  a  true  and  spiritual 
obedience.  It  wrould,  in  short,  have  led  the  mind  to 
rest  in  facts,  the  exact  knowledge  of  which  varies 
with  the  ever  changing  science  of  different  ages, 
instead  of  that  moral  fact  which  was  as  perfect  and 
as  clear  to  Jeremiah  as  it  is  now  to  Faraday.  The 
moral  fact  in  this  case  was  the  state  of  soul  we  call 
intoxication.  The  ancients  knew  it  as  well  as  we, 


INTRODUCTION.  XV 

although  our  experimental  evidence  is  so  much 
more  abundant.  Holy  men  of  old  were  inspired  to 
denounce  this  evil.  The  Inspiring  power  used  their 
thoughts,  their  language,  their  knowledge,  as  the  me 
dium  through  which  to  give  the  denunciation  clearness, 
force  and  impressiveness.  It  was  the  outward  knowl 
edge  of  their  day,  perfect  as  to  the  effect,  or  thing 
denounced,  imperfect  as  to  the  causation.  The  same 
Divine  power  filled  them  with  a  vehement  feeling 
against  this  state  denounced.  Under  the  influence 
of  this  feeling  thus  inbreathed,  this  thought  thus 
divinely  given,  and  under  the  special  guidance,  too, 
of  the  eternal  wisdom  whence  it  came,  they  used  the 
language  of  their  day  in  the  condemnation  of  sub 
stances  best  known  as  the  producers  of  the  psycho 
logical  condition  which  was  the  real,  the  unchangeable 
evil  per  se.  It  was  intoxication;  not  intoxication  to 
excess,  but  intoxication  in  any  degree ;  intoxication 
sought  as  intoxication  simply,  be  it  more  or  less.  It 
was  the  act  of  a  person  in  health  using  certain  sub 
stances,  not  as  medical  remedies  (more  or  less  imper 
fectly  known  as  the  antidotes  to  an  already  deranged 
condition  of  the  system),  not  for  any  nutritive, 
strengthening  or  restorative  qualities,  but  solely  for 
producing  that  evil  state  called  intoxication,  evil, 
not  as  excess,  but  in  any,  even  the  least  or  incipient 
degrees,  —  evil  in  effect,  evil  in  motive,  evil  per  se.  It 
was  the  act  of  a  person  in  health  deranging  his 
spiritual  nature  and  putting  it  in  a  false  state,  dis 
turbing  the  organs  or  faculties  of  thought,  imparting 
an  unnatural  impulse  to  the  passions,  quickening  the 


XVI  INTRODUCTION. 


,  or  excitable  part  of  our  nature,  not  in  the  way 
its  Maker  designed  it,  as  an  auxiliary  to  the  rational 
and  moral  action,  but  for  its  own  pleasurable 
emotion  ;  thus,  in  a  word,  running  the  risk  of  giving 
the  sensual  the  predominance  over  the  spiritual 
powers  of  our  being.  This  was  intoxication  ;  a  spir 
itual  fact.  A  Hebrew  prophet,  we  repeat,  could 
know  it  as  well  as  the  most  scientific  of  modem 
chemists  or  modern  anatomists.  It  was  evil  —  evil 
altogether  ;  that  which  was  sought,  that  which  was 
desired  for  the  purpose  of  producing  it,  that  sub 
stance  in  which  this,  as  a  known  or  supposed  effect, 
was  the  chief  ingredient  of  value  —  that  was  evil  also. 
It  was  evil,  not  so  much  from  any  chemical  constitu 
tion,  but  because  it  was  so  sought  and  for  such  an 
end.  Now  to  denounce  the  state  without  bringing 
in  the  supposed  cause  —  the  substance  that  quickened 
the  evil  motive,  and  was  in  turn  called  into  demand 
by  it  —  would  have  been  beating  the  air.  Intoxica 
tion  was  evil,  and  so  were  things  that  would  intoxi 
cate,  especially  as  sought  for  that  purpose.  In 
speaking  of  it,  therefore,  as  a  thing  wrong  —  always 
wrong  as  thus  desired  —  he  must  use  the  language 
best  understood  by  the  men  of  his  age,  and  which 
might  be  taken  as  the  representative  of  the  same 
unchanging  truth  amid  all  the  changing  science  of 
after  ages. 

Here  is  the  ground  for  the  argument  brought  out 
in  these  Lectures.  Wine  is  commended  in  some 
places  as  a  blessing.  This  cannot  be  for  any  intoxi 
cating  effect,  even  in  the  slightest  degree,  but  for  the 


INTRODUCTION.  XV11 

good  it  does,  its  known  effects  as  healthful,  pleasant, 
nutritive,  restorative,  non-intoxicating.  It  might  be 
used  to  excess,  as  bread  or  honey  might  be  eaten  in 
excess,  but  such  was  not,  such  could  not  be,  the 
common  tendency  of  anything  thus  declared  to  be  a 
blessing.  Even  a  tendency  to  excess,  simply  as 
excess,  must  make  a  thing  an  evil  (if  such  tendency 
belongs  to  the  very  essential  working  instead  of  being 
a  mere  incident,  as  in  bread  and  honey  and  other 
substances  commonly  regarded  as  innocent) ;  but  in 
the  thing  denounced,  there  is  clearly  an  evil  distinct 
from  that  of  excess,  as  will  be  seen  in  its  proper 
place.  So  the  good  substance,  the  good  wine,  might 
become  changed ;  it  might  be  suffered  to  get  into  a 
perverted  state,  and  in  this  changed  state  produce 
intoxication ;  but  such  was  not,  could  not  have  been 
the  state  on  which  the  benediction  was  pronounced. 
Neither  could  such  have  been  any  usual  condition  of 
the  thing  commended,  for  then  it  would  not  have 
been  ranked  with  those  other  substances,  "corn  and 
oil,"  which,  whilst  they  agree  with  it  in  its  nutritive, 
healthful,  in  a  word,  blessed  properties,  \vould  not 
have  so  wholly  differed  from  it  in  this  peculiarly  and 
essentially  evil  effect. 

And  so,  again,  wine  ( sometimes  under  this  generic 
name  and  sometimes  under  others)  is  condemned, 
not  as  something  merely  which  might  be  used  in 
excess  ;  for  there  are  other  undisputed  blessings  that 
might  also  be  thus  used  in  excess,  but  which  are  not 
thus  condemned  in  terms  of  evil  attached  to  the  very 
substances  themselves.  This  is  a  distinction  which 


XV111  INTRODUCTION. 

is  deemed  to  be  one  of  much  importance.  A  man 
might  eat  to  excess,  and  gluttony  is  condemned,  but 
bread  is  never  called  "  a  mocker.;"  no  man  is  ever 
denounced  for  putting  the  loaf  to  his  neighbor's 
mouth.  One  might  cloy  himself  with  honey ;  such 
excess,  as  excess,  might  be  reproached  as  sensuality ; 
but  honey,  though  so  sweet  and  tempting,  is  nowhere 
spoken  of  as  something  which  it  was  dangerous  for 
a  man  even  to  look  upon,  as  an  evil  thing  whose  very- 
nature  it  was  to  bite  like  a  serpent  and  sting  like  an 
adder.  These  substances  are  nowhere  spoken  of  in 
terms  of  severe  condemnation,  directed  immediately 
against  the  things  themselves,  and  without  the  accom 
paniment  of  any  qualifying  terms  connected  with 
such  mere  excess. 

But  there  is  a  wine  thus  spoken  of,  condemned  for 
an  evil  which  is  not  merely  that  of  excess.  It  must 
have  been  a  substance  known  or  supposed  to  produce 
intoxication ;  that  unnatural  thing  which  is  evil  in 
every  degree.  It  was  different  from  the  healthful  and 
nutritive  substance ;  and  the  grand  moral  distinction 
was,  that  it  was  sought  for  a  different  purpose.  It  might 
not  always  be  perfectly  easy  to  draw  the  physical 
line  between  them,  in  consequence  of  the  tendency 
of  the  healthful  to  degenerate  into  the  injurious  and 
the  intoxicating.  It  may  be  a  long  time  yet  before 
science  settles  exactly  where  that  line  is,  if  she  ever 
does  exactly  settle  it.  In  modern  as  well  as  in  ancient 
times,  practical  moral  results  furnish  better  rules 
than  any  chemical  tests.  It  was  not  anciently,  as  it 
is  not  even  now,  a  question  of  alcohol  as  determined 


INTRODUCTION.  xix 

by  grains,  but  a  higher  question,  a  question  of  intoxi 
cation,  as  an  admitted  evil  state.  The  wine  that  did 
not  intoxicate,  and  was  not  used  to  intoxicate,  or 
sought  to  intoxicate,  was  good ;  a  blessing  was  in  it. 
The  wine  that  did  intoxicate,  and  was  sought  for  that 
purpose,  was  bad;  it  was  pronounced  a  woe  and 
a  curse. 

Such  is  the  moral  truth,  the  moral  statement. 
Now  in  what  language  is  this  revealed  to  us  in  the 
Bible  ?  It  is  answered :  in  a  peculiar  language, 
growing  out  of  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  subject 
matter.  The  good  and  the  evil  substances  are  both 
entitled  logically  to  the  generic  name  of  wine,  from 
the  obvious  fact  of  their  common  unadultered  origin 
in  the  juice  of  the  grape.  Such,  then,  would  occa 
sionally  be  the  name  given  to  both,  especially  when 
precision  of  terms  is  unnecessary  from  the  fact  that 
the  context  clearly  shows  which  effect,  as  character 
istic  of  the  respective  kinds,  was  chiefly  in  view. 
Still,  if  there  was  a  wide  difference  in  such  effects, 
marked  by  almost  invariable  characteristics, — if  one 
produced  only  evil,  whilst  the  other  was  in  the  main 
productive  of  good, — if  they  were  sought  for  directly  differ- 
rent  purposes,  the  one  for  its  intoxicating,  the  other  for 
its  nutritive  and  restoring  qualities, — if  the  one  was 
regarded  by  the  virtuous  as  best,  in  its  pure, 
unchanged  state,  whilst  the  other,  as  is  the  law  of 
all  things  evil,  kept  ever  calling  for  an  increase  of 
the  characteristic  evil  quality,  and  so  became  con 
tinually  more  and  more  deleterious  in  its  effects, — 
then  there  would  arise,  in  time,  an  adaptation  of 


XX  INTRODUCTION. 

language  more  specific  in  its  terms,  growing  wider 
in  its  distinctive  differences,  and  aiming  to  describe 
these  two  substances  by  their  varying  fruits,  rather 
than  by  that  generic  union  of  origin  which  is  the 
common  ground  of  naming  in  the  infancy  or  first 
stages  of  human  speech.  And  such,,  on  opening  the 
Bible,  we  find  to  be  actually  the  case.  Such  is  the 
law  of  naming  and  derivation.  The  history  of  the 
thing,  the  rising  and  divergency  of  the  evil  appears  in 
the  words  to  which  it  gives  rise  ;  it  is  seen  in  the  more 
sparing  use  of  the  old  generalization  and  the  more 
frequent  employment  of  specific  or  descriptive  epi 
thets.  The  state  of  the  Hebrew  language  corresponds 
well  with  what  we  would,  a  priori,  expect  it  to  be  on 
such  a  theory.  Both  kinds  of  wine  are  occasionally 
described  by  the  same  generic  appellation,  yayin  ; 
but  in  other  and  numerous  cases,  each  gets  to  itself 
its  own  peculiar  name,  more  closely  associated  with 
its  peculiar  good  or  evil  (that  is,  its  nutritive  or 
intoxicating  effect),  and  the  opposite  purposes  for 
which  they  are  respectively  sought ;  so  that  when 
the  one  is  mentioned,  there  is  no  need  of  any  quali 
fying  language  to  show  the  reason  either  of  the 
benediction  or  of  the  condemnation. 

All  need  of  dwelling  farther  on  this,  then,  is  saved 
by  the  admirable  manner  in  which  the  whole  subject 
is  presented  in  the  chart  of  texts  to  be  found  in 
the  appendix.  If  the  reader  has  any  candor,  the 
effect  upon  his  mind  must  be  most  striking.  The 
general  term  is  yayin  ;  the  name  almost  always  used 
with  approbation,  and  sometimes  with  blessing,  is 


INTRODUCTION.  XXI 

tirosh,  or  the  new  unintoxicating  wine  or  juice  of  the 
grape.  There  is,  in  fact,  but  one  exception,  Hosea, 
iv.,  1,  and  there  it  will  be  seen,  that  in  reference  to 
the  main,  we  may  say,  the  only  point  in  this  argu 
ment,  or  the  matter  of  intoxication,  it  is  only  a 
seeming  exception.  Let  the  reader  look  carefully  at 
the  context,  and  he  must  see,  from  the  connection 
of  tirosh  with  the  other  indulgences  there  mentioned, 
that  it  is  simply  the  excessive  or  surfeiting  enjoy 
ments  there  condemned,  rather  than  any  directly 
intoxicating  or  immediate  soul  changing  quality, 
which  is  the  evil  element  in  the  species  elsewhere  so 
unequivocally  reprobated. 

Other  descriptive  names  are  used  for  the  good 
wine,  but  this  is  predominant — so  predominnnt,  we 
say,  and  so  marked  in  the  context  for  its  innocent, 
non-intoxicating  qualities,  that  any  one  who  would 
cite  these  benedictions  of  tirosh,  as  real  commenda 
tions  of  the  intoxicating  drink  sought  by  the  ancient 
drunkards,  shows  himself  greatly  wanting  both  in 
Bible  knowledge,  and  a  proper  reverence  for  the 
Holy  Scriptures.  If  any  one  is  disposed  to  go  still 
farther,  and  quote  them  in  defence  of  the  vile  com 
pounds  of  modern  times,  we  will  not  attempt  to 
characterize  either  his  learning  or  morality. 

The  reader  will  notice  in  this  synoptical  chart 
some  other  terms  of  the  later  Hebrew,  used  for  the 
same  purpose  as  tirosh,  but  they  are  mostly  descrip 
tive,  and  expressive  of  a  mild,  innocent,  non-intoxi 
cating  state  of  the  vinous  fluid.  For  the  evil  or 
intoxicating  wine,  the  most  common  word  is  yayin, 


XX11  INTRODUCTION. 

Why  should  it  take  to  itself  so  frequently  this  old 
name,  thus  driving  the  better  and  the  unchanged 
substance  to  the  use  of  a  new  and  more  descriptive 
epithet  ?  The  reason  will  be  seen  by  a  little  careful 
attention  to  the  usual  course  of  things.  In  this  world 
evil  predominates.  Language,  like  all  things  else, 
shares  in  the  human  degeneracy.  Words  follow  the 
stream  of  the  human  depravity.  It  is  thus  that  the 
evil  thing  usurps  the  generic  or  family  title.  On 
this  account,  in  cases  where  yayin  is  employed  of  the 
innocent  beverage,  or  the  simple  unintoxicating  juice 
of  the  grape,  it  is  usually  accompanied  by  such  a 
context  as  leaves  no  doubt  of  its  meaning. 

So,  also,  the  use  of  the  bad  wine  tends  to  multi 
plicity  of  epithet.  The  Anacreontic  spirit  seeks 
diversity  in  its  song.  The  pure  love  of  intoxication 
per  se,  as  something  different  from  restoring  aliment 
or  even  the  excess  of  cloying  indulgence,  demands  new 
terms  corresponding  to  its  own  ever  growing  strength. 
Hence  such  words  as  sobhe,  the  wine  that  is  sipped,  or 
supped — its  etymology  being  visible  almost  all  the 
way  down  our  Saxon  or  Celtic  stream — the  mesek,  the 
drugged  wine,  mixed  with  hot  and  spicy  ingredients  — 
the  s/iccar  or  strong  drinlc,  synonymous  with  drunken 
ness  itself.  All  these  most  graphically  mark  the 
descent  from  the  commencing  divergence  of  the 
barely  intoxicating  yayin,  down  to  those  lower  and 
still  lower  degrees  into  which  it  is  the  nature  of  all 
evil,  once  born,  to  be  ever  plunging.  That  surely 
must  be  an  evil,  per  se,  to  whose  very  essence  it  per 
tains  to  breed  a  deeper  and  still  deeper  evil.  This 


INTRODUCTION.  XX111 

evil  is  infused  into  the  wine  when  it  first  begins  to 
have  its  intoxicating  quality.  Chemists  may  settle 
that  scientifically,  if  they  can,  from  the  degree  of  alco 
hol,  but  the  practical  test  is  the  one  for  the  moralist. 
That  which  intoxicates  is  evil,  evil  in  the  slightest 
degree  of  its  effect ;  and  the  reason  is,  that  such 
slightest  degree  of  intoxication  ever  demands,  not 
the  same  repeated  simply  (though  that  would  be  an 
evil),  but  a  stronger  and  still  stronger  intoxica 
tion.  This  is  the  stone  that  Sisyphus  is  ever  con 
demned  to  roll.  The  appetite  calls  for  a  stronger 
stimulant;  the  want  invents  a  stronger  substance, 
and  this  demands  a  new  and  stronger  word.  It  is  the 
hot  mixed  wine,  the  wine  that  giveth  its  color  in  the 
cup,  that  sparkles  like  the  serpent's  eye  and  stingeth 
like  the  adder's  fang — it  is  the  poisoned  mesek,  the 
potent  shecar — these  are  the  new  ideas  and  the 
new  terms,  showing  that  they  are  the  perversions, 
the  adulterations,  the  poisonous  changes  of  something 
which  in  its  original  state  would  not  intoxicate  and 
would  not,  therefore,  be  sought  by  the  drunJcard. 

Now  it  may  be  said,  perhaps,  that  there  are  a  few 
cases,  a  very  few,  in  which  some  of  these  names  for 
the  intoxicating  wine  are  used  with  language  seeming 
to  imply  approbation.  But  let  the  reader  carefully 
examine  that  correct  and  valuable  chart.  He  will 
see  that  such  uses  are  unmistakably  marked  as  medi 
cinal.  There  were  cases  where  an  overpowering 
depression  of  body  and  soul  might  be  relieved  by 
stimulating  wine  ;  cases  perhaps,  of  urgent  necessity, 
before  other  and  slower  remedies  could  be  applied. 


XXIV  INTRODUCTION. 

So  "  strong  drink  might  be  given  to  him  who  was 
ready  to  perish."  How  strongly — if  a  man  will  but 
think — does  the  apparent  exception  prove  the  general 
moral  prohibition  of  such  substances.  These  cases 
but  confirm  the  sober  principle  of  interpretation  that 
runs  through  these  Lectures.  The  general  position 
may  again  be  stated  under  two  aspects.  The  good 
wine  might  be  used  to  excess,  but  it  was  the  excess 
of  surfeiting,  not  of  intoxication ;  it  was  incidental, 
not  entering  into  the  very  essence  ;  it  belonged  to  the 
misuse,  not  to  every  use  of  the  substance  employed. 
So,  on  the  other  hand,  the  intoxicating  wine  might 
be  used  for  beneficent  purposes,  but  it  was  in  those 
same  states  of  an  already  deranged  spiritual  or  phy 
sical  condition  which  demand  other  toxical  or  medi 
cinal  remedies — such  being  in  their  nature  mainly 
poisons ;  that  is,  poisons  for  the  healthy  diathesis,  and 
only  to  be  taken  as  temporary  antidotes  to  other  still 
more  malignant  and  deranging  influences. 

Such  is  the  substantial  outline  of  the  argument  in 
these  Lectures.  We  have  not  made  any  close  exami 
nation  to  see  if  there  might  not  be  some  errors  in 
the  classical  or  Scriptural  references.  It  is  enough 
that  the  main  positions  are  sober,  cautious,  well 
reasoned,  impregnable.  There  are  doubtless  readers 
who  will  be  dissatisfied.  Per  se  ultraists  on  both  sides 
may  condemn  the  work  as  falling  short.  But  their 
real  quarrel  is  with  the  rational  Bible  method  rather 
than  the  fair  and  candid  manner  in  which  it  is  brought 
out.  Those  who  would  make  it  a  question  of  chem 
istry  rather  than  of  morals,  may  feel  a  secret  disap- 


INTRODUCTION.  XXV 

pointment.  Even  though  they  do  not  venture  out 
wardly  to  complain,  yet  is  there  an  inward  vexation, 
perhaps,  because  the  Bible  has  not  been  as  explicit 
on  some  of  these  points  as  could  have  been  wished, 
or  as  their  favorite  theory  might  demand.  Why  could 
not  the  Scriptures  have  always  called  the  bad  wine 
yayin  and  the  good  wine  tirosh,  so  that  there  could  be 
no  possible  mistake  about  the  meaning  and  its  appli 
cation  in  eveiy  case  ?  Why  could  not  revelation 
have  told  us  how  much  alcohol  is  \\\  the  one,  and 
whether  or  no  there  is  but  little  alcohol  or  no  alcohol 
at  all  in  the  other  ?  But  to  all  such  uneasy  querists 
the  fair  answer  is  already  given.  This  is  not  the  way 
in  which  the  Infinite  communicates  himself  to  the 
finite  mind.  It  employs  not  the  language  of  science  ; 
for  it  is  ever  changing,  ever  imperfect,  that  is,  ever 
unfinished.  It  does  not  make  use  of  its  facts  or 
statements  as  such;  for  they  remain  not  the  same 
from  age  to  age.  If  it  employs  them  at  all,  it  is  only 
as  entering  into  the  common  mind,  and  as  having  thus 
become  the  representatives  of  universal  thought. 
We  would  say  it  with  reverence  and  diffidence : 
Scripture  may  even  be  regarded  as  avoiding  marked 
precision  of  language  or  departure  from  the  common 
speech,  if  by  such  niceties  of  terms,  or  such  prefer 
ence  of  the  special  and  the  technical,  the  mind  would 
be  led  to  dwell  on  the  outward  and  the  physical  to 
the  neglect  of  the  great  moral  idea. 

And  yet  even  the  language  of  the  Bible,  as  dis 
tinct  from  its  ideas,  must  have  been  an  object  of  the 
Divine  care.  It  is  a  book  ever  suggestive.  Its  holy 


XXVI  INTRODUCTION. 

texts  are  ever  expanding  to  a  higher  and  a  wider 
meaning ;  but  it  is  only  for  those  who  have  eyes  to 
see  and  ears  to  hear.  They  who  seek  for  stumbling- 
blocks  may  find  them  in  abundance ;  but  still  it 
remains  true  as  ever,  that  "  wisdom's  ways  are  plain 
to  him  that  understandeth,  and  right  to  them  that 
find  knowledge."  That  Scriptural  simplicity  of  enun 
ciation,  which  has  the  greatest  charm  for  all  who  love 
the  Bible  most,  furnishes  the  chief  occasion  for  the 
caviller.  It  is  perhaps  impossible  always  to  refute 
him  logically.  And  so  it  may  be  that  in  this  respect 
the  present  Lectures  may  fail  to  meet  the  views  of 
extremists  on  either  side ;  but  we  have  little  doubt 
of  their  securing  everywhere  a  favorable  and  grate 
ful  hearing  from  the  sincere  friends  of  humanity  and 
the  candid  and  intelligent  lovers  of  Divine  truth. 


CONTENTS. 


Prefatory  Letter  by  the  Editor, 3 

Introduction,  by  Prof.  Tayler  Lewis, 7 

LECTURE  No.  I. 

PRELIMINARY    REMARKS. 

Preliminary  remarks  —  The  question  at  issue  stated  —  Testimony  of 
Moses,  Solomon  and  Pliny  —  Other  testimony  in  Scotland  —  In 
America  —  The  number  of  drunkards  in  this  republic  —  The 
remedy  intimated  —  No  alternative  —  We  must  change  our  social 
usage,  or  meet  the  expense  of  their  maintenance  —  What  intoxi 
cating  liquors  cost  Great  Britain  annually  —  What  those  who 
purchase  liquors  pay  their  money  for, 1 

LECTURE  No.  II. 

THE    REMEDY. 

Intoxicating  liquors  useful,  but  not  as  a  beverage  in  health  —  Those 
who  use  intoxicating  liquors,  and  live  to  be  old,  live  not  in  conse 
quence,  but  in  spite  of  drinking  —  Intoxicating  liquors  analogous 
to  exhilirating  gas  —  The  number  of  deaths  by  the  use  of  in 
toxicating  liquors  very  great  —  The  waste  of  life  by  intoxicating 
liquors  supplied  from  the  ranks  of  temperate  drinkers  —  Delete 
rious  effects  of  distilled  liquors,  of  beer  and  of  bad  wine, ....  29 


XXV111  CONTENTS. 

LECTURE  No.  III. 

THE    BIBLE. 

The  kind  of  wine  in  question  — The  authority  of  Scripture  —  Wine 
of  different  kinds,  good  and  bad— Spoken  of  by  sacred  writers  — 
Grape  juice  called  wine  — Good  wine  — Better  than  after  fermenta 
tion—If  not  wine,  but  grape  juice  out  of  which  wine  is  made, 
and  called  wine  figuratively,  then  is  wine  not  commended,  but 
grape  juice  merely  — The  wine  of  the  press  and  vat  in  Palestine 
slightly  fermented  — What  is  meant  by  unfermented  wine  as  here 
used> 50 

LECTURE  No.  IV. 

INQUIRY    EXTENDED    TO    PROFANE  WRITERS. 

The  wine  question  continued  —  Grape  juice  spoken  of  as  a  beverage 
by  profane  writers  —  Called  wine  — Pronounced  good  wine  — Bet 
ter  before  than  after  fermentation  —  The  formation  of  alcohol  in 
tentionally  prevented  by  arresting  fermentation  — Dissipated  when 
formed  by  the  filter,  or  counteracted  by  dilution  — The  question  at 
issue  a  question  of  degree,  not  of  totality  — The  question  of  sin 
perse  considered  —  Perfect  purity  not  attainable  — Wine  placed 
on  the  same  footing  as  other  articles  of  food, 93 

LECTURE  No.  Y. 

WINE ITS    SACRAMENTAL    USE. 

The  wine  made  use  of  at  the  Paschal  Supper,  at  the  wedding  at  Cana 
of  Galilee  — And  the  wine  recommended  to  Timothy,. . .°. .  131 

LECTURE  No.  VI. 

THINGS,    NOT    NAMES. 

How  wines  called  by  the  same  name  can  be  distinguished  —  Absti 
nence  from  wine  urged  on  the  ground  of  expediency, 148 


CONTENTS.  XXIX 

LECTURE  No.  VII 

ADULTERATIONS. 

The  adulteration  of  the  wines  of  commerce  —  Drunkenness  and  glut 
tony  compared  —  Analogy  between  bad  oil,  bad  milk  and  bad 
wine  —  An  appeal  to  Patriots  and  Christians, 170 


LECTURE  No.  VIII. 

MORAL     AND     NATURAL    LAWS    AS    APPLIED    TO    STRONG    DRINK. 

Books  of  Revelation  and  Nature  —  Misery  springs  from  violations  of 
law  —  Nature  interrogated  —  Her  answer  returned  —  In  crime, 
disease  and  death  —  Spontaneous  combustion — Distinction  between 
stimulants  and  aliments  —  Example  of  moderate  drinkers  more  in 
jurious  than  of  drunkards  —  Iniquities  of  fathers  visited  on  chil 
dren —  Expostulation  with  moderate  drinkers. 102 


LECTURE  No.  IX. 

MORAL    AND    NATURAL     LAWS    AS    APPLIED     TO    STRONG    DRINK. 

Nature  still  farther  interrogated  —  Another  page  turned  —  The  re 
sponse  in  the  structure  of  creation  and  the  orderings  of  Provi 
dence —  Man  made  for  temperance  and  chastity  —  Excess  fatal  — 
The  intrepid  engineer  —  The  voice  of  Nature,  the  voice  of  God  — 
His  disapprobation  of  intoxicating  liquors  stamped  on  the  whole 
human  organism  —  Especially  the  human  stomach  —  Explanation 
of  the  drawings  of  Doct.  Sewal  —  The  maniac, 214 


LECTURE  No.  X. 

THE  TRAFFIC APPEAL  TO  DEALERS. 

The  injurious  effect  of  abandoning  the  liquor  trade  considered  —  The 
expedient  of  total  abstinence  —  The  manner  in  which  it  should  be 
enforced  —  An  appeal  to  dealers, 238 


XXX  CONTENTS. 

LECTURE  No.  XL 

RECAPITULATION  — GENERAL  APPEAL  IN  BEHALF  OF  TEMPE 
RANCE. 

Appeal  to  Parents—  To  Youth  — To  Women—  Conclusion,  ....  265 


APPENDIX, 283 

Letter  from  Mr.  Delavan  to  Gov.  King, 297 

Adulteration  of  Liquors,  311 

Bishop  Potter's  Address  on  the  Drinking  Usages  of  Society,  315 

Use  and  Abuse  of  Alcoholic  Drinks,  in  Health  and  Disease, 

by  Wm.  B.  Carpenter, 336 


LECTURE  No.   1. 


PRELIMINARY    REMARKS. 


Preliminary  remarks  —  The  question  at  issue  stated  —  Testimony  of 
Moses,  Solomon  and  Pliny  —  Other  testimony  in  Scotland  —  In 
America  —  The  number  of  drunkards  in  this  republic  —  The  remedy 
intimated  —  No  alternative  —  We  must  change  our  social  usage,  or 
meet  the  expense  of  their  maintenance  —  What  intoxicating  liquors 
cost  Great  Britain  annually  —  What  those  who  purchase  liquors  pay 
their  money  for. 

IT  is  now  some  eighteen  centuries  since  the  tempe 
rance  question  was  argued  in  Palestine,  by  a  prisoner 
in  bonds,  before  a  Eoman  Governor.  It  has  often 
since  been  argued ;  seldom,  however,  it  is  believed, 
with  the  same  effect,  and  perhaps  as  seldom  in  the 
same  spirit.  Saul  of  Tarsus  was  scarcely  less 
remarkable  for  his  courtesy  of  manner  than  for  his 
fixedness  of  purpose. 

Mere  dictation,  as  well  as  stern  rebuke,  comes  with 
an  ill  grace,  even  among  friends,  from  those,  believed 
to  be  at  least,  as  weak  and  erring  as  ourselves; 
whereas  there  is  always  a  charm  in  meekness,  and 
the  persuasive  accent  of  unaffected  kindness  seldom 
falls  powerless,  even  on  a  stranger's  ear.  Whether 
the  friends  of  temperance,  I  mean  its  most  active 

NOTT.  1 


2  LEC.    NO.    1 PRELIMINARY    REMARKS. 

friends,  may  not  have  lost  something  of  their  influence 
over  the  public  mind  by  the  advocacy  of  even  their 
noble  cause,  in  a  manner  too  stern,  and  with  a  spirit 
too  uncompromising,  is  a  question  which  at  the  pre 
sent  time  may  well  deserve  consideration. 

Even  truth  bears  lightly  on  minds  exasperated  by  a 
sense  of  injury;  and  conviction  is  slow  to  reach 
bosoms  rankling  with  resentment,  and  before  which 
prejudice  has  flung  her  broad  and  impenetrable  shield. 

Although  we  neither  use,  nor  abet  the  use,  even 
the  moderate  use,  of  intoxicating  liquor,  in  any  of  its 
forms,  as  a  beverage,  still  we  do  not  know,  and  dare 
not  therefore  affirm,  that  they  who  do  so  use  it,  in 
some  of  them,  are,  on  that  account,  greater  sinners 
than  other  men.  And  even  though  they  were,  they 
are  still  our  brethren  :  and  we  have  no  desire,  during 
this  season  of  divine  forbearance,  to  sunder  those 
bonds  which  have  hitherto  united  us.  On  the  con 
trary,  we  wish  hereafter,  as  heretofore,  to  maintain 
a  free  and  fraternal  intercourse  with  them ;  to  hear 
their  arguments,  and  in  our  turn  to  address  to  them 
our  own.  We  think  that  truth  is  on  our  side ;  and 
if  it  be  so,  our  opponents  may  hereafter  be  convinced ; 
and  we  trust  in  God  they  will  hereafter  be  convinced 
— an  additional  reason  why  we  are  unwilling,  by  any 
indiscretion  of  ours,  to  alienate  their  feelings,  and 
thus  weaken  the  hold  we  might  otherwise  have  on 
their  reason  and  their  conscience. 

It  is  well  to  learn  wisdom  from  the  past.  Years 
have  now  gone  by,  since  I  first  became  acquainted 
with  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Hoosack,  of  Johnstown,  now 


DOCT.    HOOSACK.  6 

gone  to  his  rest.  During  a  journey,  taken  with  him 
soon  after  our  acquaintance  commenced,  I  observed 
that  he  used  a  little  brandy  and  water  with  his  dinner, 
to  aid  digestion ;  and  took  a  small  glass  of  bitters 
before  breakfast  to  ensure  an  appetite ;  and  though 
much  younger  than  himself,  I  ventured  to  question 
the  propriety  of  such  a  practice.  He  heard  me 
patiently,  and  answered  me  playfully,  as  his  manner 
Was  —  "  Your  logic  tells  me  one  thing,  my  experience 
another,  and  in  the  absence  of  other  evidence  I  shall 
continue  my  former  practice ;"  and  he  did  continue 
his  former  practice.  We  often  afterwards  met,  and 
discussed  the  matter ;  but  though  the  one  drank  spirits 
and  the  other  water,  we  always  met  and  parted  in 
friendship.  At  length  a  public  discussion  of  the 
whole  question  took  place,  at  which  both  of  us  were 
present,  when  I  was  as  delighted  as  surprised  to  find 
that  my  old  friend  Hoosack  had  come  over  to  our  side. 
"  I  continued,"  said  he,  giving  a  reason  for  his  change 
of  opinion  "  I  continued  to  drink  intoxicating  liquor 

without  apprehension,  until  I  saw and and 

(naming  three  distinguished  individuals)  become 

intemperate,  when  thought  I,  if  such  men  cannot, 
as  life  advances,  withstand  its  growing  influence,  it 
is  time  for  me  to  abjure  its  use." 

And  he  did  abjure  its  use ;  thereafter  giving  the 
whole  weight  of  his  influence  to  the  cause  of  tempe 
rance,  till  full  of  years  and  honored  by  the  churches, 
he  left  the  world  without  a  blot  upon  his  character. 
His  was  a  noble  independence.  I  honored  him  for  it, 
and  I  still  honor  him  for  it.  My  poor  arguments  did 


4         ALCOHOL  ACCOUNTED  NEEDFUL. 

not  convince  him ;  the  providence  of  God,  however, 
did;  and  when  light  broke  upon  his  mind  he  did 
homage  to  the  truth. 

But,  in  relation  to  the  question  now  before  us, 
what  is  truth  ?  That  some  people  lean  to  the  one 
opinion,  and  some  to  the  other,  decides  nothing.  For 
though  truth  will  ultimately  prevail  over  error,  the 
struggle  may  be  violent  and  of  long  continuance. 
Saul  of  Tarsus  is  not  the  only  individual,  who, 
when  erring  grievously,  has  thought  he  was  doing 
God  service. 

In  some  countries,  when  friends  fall  out,  they  are 
required  by  the  laws  of  honor,  to  kill  each  other. 
In  other  countries  each  is  required,  by  the  same  laws, 
to  kill  himself. 

The  time  was,  when  our  fathers  owned  slaves,  and 
even,  without  compunction,  engaged  in  the  slave 
trade.  Now  the  thought  of  this  fills  us  with  amaze 
ment  :  so  the  time  was  when  rum  and  gin  and  brandy 
and  whiskey,  and  that  whole  legion  of  alcoholic  mix 
tures,  were  not  only  tolerated,  but  also  held  in 
estimation  by  the  wise  and  good,  as  well  as  the 
ignorant  and  vile. 

Then  alcohol  in  some  form  was  accounted  needful 
to  the  doctor  in  compounding  his  medicine,  to  the 
lawyer  in  making  out  his  brief,  to  the  parson  in 
composing  his  sermon — aye,  and  in  its  delivery  too. 
While  in  every  place  of  concourse,  —  at  the  house  of 
feasting,  at  the  house  of  mourning, — this  spirit- 
stirring  element  seemed  to  be  considered  the  one 
thing  needful.  To  say  nothing  of  gala  days  and 


PRACTICE    IN   THE     CITY   OF    ALBANY.  5 

weddings,  not  a  christening  could  be  performed,  or 
even  a  funeral  solemnized,  among  large  and  respect 
able  classes  of  community,  without  this  indispensable 
accompaniment.  And  the  man  of  fortune  who  should 
have  neglected  to  provide  it,  in  anticipation,  for  his 
burial,  would,  in  many  a  place,  have  been  accounted, 
if  not  a  denier  of  the  faith,  at  least,  less  provident 
than  an  infidel. 

Even  in  the  exemplary  and  church-going  city  of 
Albany,  the  time  was — I  remember  it  well  —  when 
pastors  and  people  vied  with  each  other  in  the  pro 
duction  of  the  best  cherry,  and  raspberry,  and 
strawberry  brandy;  as  well  as  sundry  other  quite 
orthodox  alcoholic  mixtures,  to  be  served  occasionally, 
not  only  to  company,  but  to  be  administered  also  to 
the  smaller  children  as  a  vermifuge,  and  to  the  larger 
ones  as  a  stomachic.  While  some  there  were — nay, 
many  there  were — and  good  men  too,  who,  as  a 
preparation  for  their  nightly  rest,  as  regularly  took 
their  whiskey  punch,  as  they  offered  up  their  devo 
tions.  Indeed,  if  the  moderate,  and  especially  the 
occasional,  use  of  intoxicating  liquor,  in  some  of  its 
forms,  is  to  exclude  from  our  charity  and  fellowship, 
it  will  be  difficult  to  find,  even  among  our  own 
members,  executioners,  without  sin,  to  cast  at  their 
offending  neighbor  the  first  stone. 

Now,  notwithstanding  this  diversity  of  opinion  and 
practice,  all  of  us  wish  to  live  as  long,  and  to  enjoy, 
while  we  do  live,  as  much  as  possible. 

Will,  then,  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquor,  extend  the 
duration  and  increase  the  enjoyment  of  human  life  ? 

NOTT.  *1 


O  DIFFERENT   OPINIONS   HELD. 

If  this  be  the  case,  it  is  befitting  that  certain  minds 
should  be  disabused  of  a  groundless  prejudice  against 
its  use ;  and  on  the  contrary,  if  this  be  not  the  case, 
then  is  it  befitting  that  certain  other  minds  should  be 
disabused  of  a  no  less  groundless  prejudice  in  favor 
of  its  use. 

We  who  now  oppose  the  prevailing  practice,  once 
thought  and  acted  as  those  who  now  advocate  it  think 
and  act.  And  who  knows  but  those  who  now  advo 
cate  it,  may  hereafter  think  and  act  as  we  do  ! 

They  cannot  suppose  that  we  who  dislike  self- 
denial  as  much,  and  love  good  cheer  as  well,  as  they 
do,  have  all  at  once,  and  without  some  good  reason, 
real  or  imaginary,  changed  our  habits,  and  abjured 
forever  the  use  of  an  article,  so  long  familiarized,  and 
to  which  many  of  us  at  least  were  so  much  attached. 
As  little  can  we  suppose  that  they,  who  dread  pain 
as  much  and  love  life  as  well  as  we  do,  will  continue 
the  use  of  the  same  article,  (unless  where  inebriation 
has  become  habitual,)  after  they  shall  discover,  what 
we  profess  to  have  already  discovered,  that  however 
prepared,  and  with  whatever  other  ingredients  com 
bined,  death  is  often,  if  not  usually,  one  ingredient 
mingled  in  every  cup  in  which  it  is  contained.  For,  how 
ever  some  might  be  disposed,  for  filthy  lucre's  sake, 
to  furnish  a  deleterious  preparation,  to  be  drank  by 
others,  few  it  is  believed  would  be  disposed  to  drink 
of  it  themselves.  And  if  such  a  preparation  has  been 
introduced,  introduced  extensively,  they  only  who 
are  privy  to  the  fraud,  and  expect  to  profit  by  it, 
will  withhold  the  meed  of  praise  from  the  chemist 


WERE   FOUNTAINS   OF   WATER   POISONED.  7 

who  establishes  and  the  herald  who  proclaims  the 
alarming  fact. 

Had  some  drug,  slow  but  certain  in  its  work  of 
death,  been  cast  into  those  fountains  whence  your 
supply  of  water  is  derived,  and  had  some  wakeful 
guardians  of  the  public  welfare  witnessed  the  trans 
action  ;  more  than  this,  had  they  caused  the  water  to 
be  analyzed,  detected  the  specific  poison,  tested  its 
degree  of  virulence,  and  traced  distinctly  to  its  influ 
ence  much  of  the  disease  and  death  with  which  your 
city  is  afflicted,  ought  they,  because  a  portion  of  the 
citizens  not  having  themselves  as  yet  experienced  any 
inconvenience,  were  incredulous;  ought  they,  I 
repeat  it,  the  less  to  sound  the  note  of  alarm  on  that 
account  ?  This  will  not  be  pretended.  As  little  will 
it  be  pretended,  that  for  a  similar  reason  the  note  of 
alarm  may  not,  with  equal  freedom,  be  sounded 
where,  in  the  use  of  any  other  beverage,  a  question 
of  life  and  death  is  concerned.  But  is  such  a  ques 
tion  here  concerned  ?  Many  people  think  there  is ; 
think  that  in  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  the  intoxi 
cating  liquors  in  use  among  us,  fraud  is  practiced, 
and  that  under  the  guise  of  a  healthful  beverage, 
deleterious  and  destructive  drinks  are  palmed  on  com 
munity  ;  and  that  alike,  though  in  different  forms,  in 
the  hut  of  ignorance  and  the  parlor  of  fashion. 

Now  be  the  truth  of  this  what  it  may,  they  who 
believe  this  to  be  the  truth  are  at  liberty  to  proclaim 
that  belief,  even  from  the  house-tops.  "  The  life  of 
man  is  more  than  meat,  and  his  body  than  raiment"  But 
let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  they  who  do  not  believe 


8  QUESTION    STATED. 

this,  are  at  equal  liberty  in  the  same  manner  to  pro 
claim  that  they  do  not.  Though  error  may,  truth 
can  have  no  reason  to  shun  discussion.  To  think  and 
speak  and  act  on  his  own  responsibility,  and  not  to  do 
the  bidding  of  another,  is  alike  the  privilege  of  a 
freeman  and  a  Christian. 

Here  then  is  common  ground,  where  an  issue  may 
be  fairly  joined,  between  the  water  drinker  and  the 
spirit  drinker  of  every  class  and  character. 

ARE  THEN  INTOXICATING  LIQUORS  OF  THE  KIND 
AND  QUALITY  GENERALLY  IN  USE  AMONG  US,  DELE 
TERIOUS,  AS  A  BEVERAGE,  OR  ARE  THEY  NOT? 

This  is  the  real  question ;  and  not  whether  being 
deleterious,  they  ought  to  be  avoided? 

That  pure  alcohol  is  poison ;  that  every  beverage 
containing  alcohol  contains  an  element  of  poison, 
and  that  other  elements  of  poison  are  often,  if  not 
usuallly,  contained  in  intoxicating  liquors,  are  known 
and  admitted  facts. 

That  these  elements  of  poison,  however,  usually 
exist  in  such  liquors,  in  sufficient  intensity  to  disturb 
the  healthy  action  of  the  system,  by  the  production 
of  crime,  insanity,  disease,  or  death,  is  not  to  be 
taken  for  granted,  nor  to  be  decided  by  reasoning 
a  priori. 

The  same  article  may  be  healthful  to  plants  and 
injurious  to  animals ;  healthful  to  animals  and  injuri 
ous  to  men ;  healthful  to  one  man  and  injurious  to 
another ;  healthful  to  some  men  at  one  time  and  in 
one  degree,  and  injurious  at  another  time  and  in 
another  degree  ;  or  healthful  in  occasional,  and  inju- 


MOSES  —  SOLOMON.  9 

rious  in  habitual  use.  Now  how  is  it  with  the  seve 
ral  kinds  of  intoxicating  liquors  in  use  among  us,  are 
questions  of  fact  not  to  be  determined  by  clamor  or 
dogmatism,  but  by  observation  and  experiment. 

To  furnish  data  for  such  determination,  however, 
no  new  experiments  are  required  to  be  performed ; 
a  series  of  experiments  reaching  through  more  than 
forty  centuries  having  been  already  furnished ;  experi 
ments  tried  first  in  Asia  on  the  top  of  Ararat,  where 
the  Ark  rested ;  and  since  tried  in  Europe,  in  Africa, 
in  America,  and  in  the  islands  of  the  Sea.  We  have 
only  to  collect  and  collate  these  scattered  and  recor 
ded  results,  to  enable  us  to  arrive  at  a  knowledge 
of  the  truth. 

Hear  Moses  speak :  "  And  Noah  began  to  be  an 
husbandman,  and  he  planted  a  vine-yard,  and  he 
drank  of  the  wine."  What  next?  "and  he  was 
drunken."  I  need  not  repeat  the  residue  of  the 
afflictive  and  humiliating  details.  Nor  need  I  repeat 
the  still  more  afflictive  and  humiliating  . details  of 
drunkenness  and  incest,  which  the  use  of  wine  occa 
sioned  in  the  family  of  Lot  after  their  departure  from 
the  vale  of  Sodom. 

Hear  Solomon  speak :  "  Who  hath  wo  ?  who  hath 
sorrow  ?  who  hath  contentions  ?  who  hath  babblings  ? 
who  hath  wounds  without  cause  ?  who  hath  redness 
of  eyes? 

"  They  that  tarry  long  at  the  wine  ;  they  that  go 
to  seek  mixed  wine.  Look  not  thou  upon  the  wine 
when  it  is  red,  when  it  giveth  its  color  in  the  cup, 
when  it  moveth  itself  aright.  At  the  last  it  biteth 


10  ISAIAH  —  PLINY. 

like  a  serpent  and  stingeth  like  an  adder."  Neither 
here  need  I  repeat  the  residue  of  the  afflictive  and 
humiliating  details. 

Hear  Isaiah  speak :  "  But  they  have  erred  through 
wine,  and  through  strong  drink  are  out  of  the  way ; 
the  priest  and  the  prophet  have  erred  through  strong 
drink  ;  they  err  in  vision,  they  stumble  in  judgment. 
For  all  tables  are  full  of  vomit  and  filthiness,  so  that 
there  is  no  place  clean." 

But  this,  it  is  objected,  is  the  testimony  of  sacred 
writers  only.  It  is  so.  Would  that  of  profane  wri 
ters  be  deemed  more  conclusive  ? 

Hear  then  Pliny  the  elder,  speak.  Pliny,  than 
whom  a  purer  patriot  or  a  profounder  sage  lived  not, 
out  of  Palestine,  among  the  nations:  "If  we  exam 
ine  closely,  we  shall  find  there  is  nothing  on  which 
more  pains  are  bestowed  by  mankind,  than  on  wine. 
As  though  nature  had  not  liberally  furnished  water, 
with  which  all  other  animals  are  content :  we  even 
force  our  horses  to  drink  wine,*  and  we  purchase  at 
great  pains  and  expense  a  liquor  which  deprives  man 
of  the  use  of  his  reason,  renders  him  furious,  and  is 
the  cause  of  an  infinite  variety  of  crimes. 


*  The  custom  of  giving  wine  to  horses  was  known  to  Homer. 
Vide,  Iliad  viii.,  li.,  88.  Philip  de  Comines  says,  that  "  At  the  close 
of  a  battle,  having  made  his  war  horse,  who  was  very  much  exhausted 
and  very  old,  drink  wine,  it  appeared  to  renew  and  rejuvenate  him. 
The  practice  is  common  enough  among  all  our  cavaliers." 

Columella,  chap.  3,  book  3d,  recommends  giving  wine  to  cattle 
worried  and  overheated  with  labor. 


PLINY.  11 

"  It  is  true  it  is  so  delicious  that  multitudes  know 
no  pleasure  in  life  but  that  of  drinking  it.  Yea  that 
we  may  drink  the  more,  we  weaken  this  liquor  by 
passing  it  through  the  straining  bag,*  and  we  invent 
other  methods  to  stimulate  our  thirst ;  we  go  so  far 
as  to  employ  poisons.  Some  persons  before  drinking 
make  use  of  hemlock,!  that  the  fear  of  death  may 
compel  them  to  drink.  Others  swallow  powder  of 
pumice-stone  and  many  other  things  which  I  should 
blush  to  name. 

"  The  most  prudent  facilitate  the  digestion  of 
vinous  crudities  by  resorting  to  sweating  rooms, 
whence  they  are  sometimes  carried  forth  half  dead. 
Some  cannot  even  wait  to  reach  their  couch,  on  the 
first  quitting  of  the  bath,  nor  even  to  put  on  their 
tunic.  But  naked  and  panting  as  they  are,  rush 
eagerly  on  great  pitchers  of  wine,  which  they  drain 
to  the  bottom,  as  if  to  exhibit  the  strengh  of  their 
stomachs.  They  next  vomit  j:  and  drink  anew,  renew 
ing  the  like  career  twice  and  three  times,  as  though 
born  only  to  waste  wine ;  as  though  men  were  under 


*  Columella,  book  ix.,  chap.  15.  —  The  Greeks  were  acquainted 
with  the  custom  of  passing  wines  through  the  saccus. 

[  Vide  Theophrastus  de  causis  vi.,  chap.  9.]  The  Romans  used  to 
pass  through  the  saccus  old  and  too  heavy  wines.  Vide  Martial 
lib.  11,  Epig.  40;  also  xii.,  61. 

f  Wine  is  a  remedy  for  the  poison  of  hemlock,  according  to  Pliny, 
lib.  xxii.,  sec.  17. 

$  See  on  this  custom,  Cicero  —  Pro  Dejotaro.  Also  Martial,  book 
iii.,  Epig.  82.  Seutonias,  Life  of  Vitellius  xiii.,  and  of  Claudius, 
chap.  xiii. 


12  PLINY. 

obligation  to  be  the  channel  by  which  wine  should 
return  to  the  earth. 

"  Others  borrow  from  the  barbarians  most  extra 
ordinary  exercises  to  show  that  they  are  constituted 
genuine  wine-bibbers.  They  tumble  in  the  mire, 
where  they  affect  to  lay  the  head  flat  upon  the  back, 
and  to  display  a  broad  and  muscular  chest.  All  this 
they  shamefully  practice,  because  these  violent  acts 
lead  them  to  drink  with  increased  avidity. 

"  And  now  what  shall  we  say  to  the  infamous 
representations  upon  the  drinking-cups  and  ves 
sels  for  wine,  which  would  seem  as  though  drunken 
ness  alone  were  insufficient  to  excite  men  to  lewd- 
ness. 

"  Thus  they  drink,  as  if  prostitution  and  drunken 
ness,  ye  gods !  were  invited  and  even  bribed  with  a 
reward. 

"  Some  receive  a  certain  sum  of  money,  on  condi 
tion  of  eating  as  much  as  they  drink ;  while  others 
expend  in  wine  what  they  obtain  in  games  of  chance. 
Thus  the  eyes  of  the  husband  become  heavy,  while 
those  of  the  wife  are  wide  open,  and  employed  in  full 
liberty. 

"  It  is  then  the  most  secret  thoughts  are  revealed. 
Some  at  such  times  disclose  the  contents  of  their  last 
wills;  others  throw  out  expressions,  which,  in  the 
common  phrase,  they  will  thereafter  be  forced  to 
eat. 

"  How  many  perish  in  consequence  of  words 
uttered  in  a  state  of  inebriety ;  so  that  it  has  passed 
into  a  proverb,  that  '  Wine  brings  truth  to  light.' 


PLINY.  13 

"Such  men,  at  best*  see  not  the  rising  sun,  and 
thus  abridge  their  lives.  Thence  proceeds  their  pen 
dulous  cheeks,  their  ulcerated  eyes,  their  trembling 
hands,  incapable  of  holding  the  full  glass  without 
spilling  a  portion  of  its  contents.  Thence  those 
furious  transports  which  disturb  their  slumbers,  and 
that  inquietude,  just  punishment  of  their  intemper 
ance,  in  which  their  nights  are  passed. 

"  The  highest  reward  of  their  drunkenness  is  the 
creation  of  a  monstrous  passion,  and  a  pleasure  which 
nature  and  decency  forbid.  On  the  morrow  their 
breath  is  still  infected  with  the  odor  of  wine.  They 
experience,  as  it  were,  a  death  of  memory,  and  almost 
total  oblivion  of  the  past.  Those  who  live  after  this 
sort,  call  their  conduct  the  art  of  making  time  and 
enjoying  life ;  though  the  day  of  their  debauch  and 
the  subsequent  day  are  equally  lost.  In  the  reign  of 
Tiberius  Claudius,  about  forty  years  ago,  it  became 
the  custom  at  Rome,  to  drink  wine  in  the  morning 
with  empty  stomachs,  and  to  take  no  food  till  after 
drinking.  This  was  of  foreign  derivation,  and  was 
introduced  by  certain  physicians,  who  wish  to  com 
mend  themselves  to  the  public  favor  by  the  intro 
duction  of  some  novelty. 

"  To  drink  is,  by  the  Parthians,  considered  highly 
honorable.  Among  the  Greeks,  Alcibiades  has  thus 
distinguished  himself;  among  the  Latins,  Marcellius 
Torquatus,  of  Milan,  who  had  been  praetor  and  pro- 


*  Vide  Seneca,  Epig.  122.     Athenaeus,  lib.  vi.,  p.  273;  also  some 
of  the  preface  of  Columella. 

NOTT.  2 


14  PLINY. 

consul,  has  obtained  the  surname  Tricongius,  by 
drinking  at  once  three  congii  of  wine*  in  the  presence 
and  to  the  great  astonishment  of  the  Emperor  Tibe 
rius,  who,  in  his  old  age,  became  severe,  and  even 
cruel,  but  in  his  youth  was  much  addicted  to  drinking. 

"  It  is  believed,  moreover,  that  Lucius  Pisco  obtained 
from  him  the  prefectship  of  Eome,  for  having 
remained  at  table  two  days  and  two  nights  in  succes 
sion  with  this  prince,  who  had  even  then  mounted 
the  throne.  It  was  said,  also,  that  in  nothing  did 
Drusus  Caesar  more  closely  resemble  his  father  Tibe 
rius,  than  in  the  quality  of  a  deep  drinker. 

"  Torquatus,  of  whom  we  have  spoken  above,  had 
no  equal  in  his  exact  observance  of  the  Bacchanal 
laws ;  for  the  art  of  drinking  has  also  its  laws. 
Whatever  quantity  of  wine  he  drank,  he  never  stut 
tered  or  vomited.  The  morning  found  him  still  at 
his  potations.  He  swallowed  a  great  quantity  of 
wine  at  one  draught ;  and  if  a  small  cup  was  poured 
out  to  him,  he  never  failed  to  demand  the  remainder. 
While  he  drank  he  never  took  breath  nor  spat,  and 
he  never  left  in  his  glass  any  heel-taps  which  could 
produce  sound  when  thrown  on  the  pavement ;  in 
which  he  diligently  observed  the  rules  for  the  pre 
vention  of  trick  in  drinking. 

"  Tergilla  reproached  M.  T.  Cicero,  that  he  drank 
too  congii  at  a  single  draught,  and  that  one  day,  being 
intoxicated,  he  had  thrown  a  glass  at  the  head  of 
Marcus  Agrippa.  Truly  these  are  the  works  of 

*  Three  gallons,  one  quart  and  one  pint. 


PLINY.  15 

drunkenness.  But  doubtless  Cicero,  the  son,  wished 
to  take  from  Mark  Antony,  the  murderer  of  his 
father,  the  palm  of  drunkenness  ;  for  it  is  well  known 
that,  before  him.  Antony  had  been  very  jealous  of 
the  title  of  a,  first-rate  drinker,  and  even  published  a 
treatise  on  his  drunkenness,  in  which  he  dares  to 
apologize  for  that  vice.  But  this  treatise  persuades 
me  only,  that  the  drunkenness  of  Antony  was  the 
cause  of  all  the  evils  with  which  he  has  afflicted  the 
earth.  He  vomited  forth  this  work  a  short  time 
before  the  battle  of  Actium ;  as  if  to  show  that  he 
was  already  intoxicated  with  the  blood  of  the  citizens, 
and  thirsted  only  the  more  for  it. 

"For  this  necessity  accompanies  the  vice  of  drun 
kenness,  that  drinking  augments  thirst ;  and  every 
one  knows  this  *  bon  mot '  of  the  Scythian  ambassa 
dor,  that  the  more  the  Parthians  drank,  the  more 
they  thirsted. 

"The  western  nations  have  also  peculiar  intoxica 
ting  drinks.  The  Gauls  and  Spaniards  composed 
them  of  grain  steeped  in  divers  manners.  The  Span 
iards  give  them  various  names.  There  is  a  method 
of  rendering  them  susceptible  of  long  preservation. 
Similar  drinks  are  also  made  in  Egypt  from  grain. 
There  is  no  part  of  the  world  where  inebriation  is  not 
practiced  ;  for  they  drink  such  liquors  pure  —  that  is, 
without  diluting  them  like  wine.  The  earth  seemed 
to  produce  grain  for  the  nourishmen^  of  man;  but, 
by  Hercules !  how  industrious  is  vice ;  we  have  found 
a  method  to  make  even  water  intoxicate  us. 


16     RESPONSE  FROM  CALCUTTA SCOTLAND. 

"  Two  liquors  are  furnished  by  the  trees,  both  very 
pleasant,  wine  for  inward,  and  oil  for  outward  appli 
cation.  Oil,  however,  is  the  most  useful,  and  men 
have  been  industrious  in  their  efforts  to  procure  it ; 
but  they  have  been  infinitely  more  diligent  in  regard 
to  wine,  having  invented  ninety-five  different  kinds ; 
perhaps  double  the  number,  on  full  examination, 
might  be  reckoned  —  and  so  few  of  oil !  * 

If,  then,  the  use  of  intoxicating  wine,  deemed  to 
be  the  least  deleterious  of  intoxicating  liquors, 
required,  even  in  countries  suited  to  the  vine,  so 
much  caution,  was  attended  with  so  much  hazard, 
and  led,  even  occasionally,  to  such  lamentable  results, 
what  was  to  have  been  expected  from  those  other 
and  baser  fabrications,  which  the  brewer's  and  distil 
ler's  arts  have  subsequently  palmed  on  the  world? 
What?  Precisely  what  has  taken  place, — a  mighty 
and  gratuitous  increase  both  of  guilt  and  misery. 

But  what  evidence  is  there  that  such  has  been  the 
case?  You  shall  hear.  To  recent  inquiries  sent 
abroad  by  philanthropists,  to  different  parts  of  the 
earth,  the  response  returned  from  New  Holland  was, 
"that  in  that  colony  intoxicating  liquors  promote 
crime,  induce  disease,  and  hasten  death."  A  similar 
response  has  been  returned  from  Calcutta,  from  Bur- 
mah,  from  Malacca,  from  China,  from  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  from  Continental  Europe,  and  from  the 
British  Isles. 


Plin.,  Lib.  xiv.,  chap.  22. 


EVIDENCE  NEARER  HOME.  17 

In  Scotland — exemplary  Christian  Scotland — the 
use  of  intoxicating  liquors  has  tripled  in  the  last 
fifteen  years.  In  1823,  the  whole  consumption 
amounted  to  2,300,000  gallons;  in  1837,  to  6,776,715 
gallons.  In  Glasgow  alone,  there  are  two  thousand 
two  hundred  spirit  shops,  that  is  one  spirit  shop  for 
every  ten  dwelling-houses  throughout  the  city.  The 
consumption  of  spiritous  liquors  has  increased  in 
Glasgow  during  the  last  fifteen  years  five  hundred 
per  cent,  whereas  the  population  has  increased  only 
sixty-six  per  cent.  But,  mark  ye,  in  the  meantime 
crime  has  increased  four  hundred  per  cent,  fever  six 
teen  hundred  per  cent,  death  three  hundred  per  cent, 
and  the  chances  of  human  life  diminished  forty-four 
per  cent.  What  an  appalling  result !  * 

But  this  is  too  general  and  remote.  Be  it  so. 
Turn  we  then  to  evidence  more  specific,  and  to 
localities  near  home.  If  there  be  any  truth  in  the 
declaration  of  physicians  in  our  cities,  or  even  in  the 
verdict  of  juries  returned  over  the  bodies  of  the 
dead,  and  under  the  solemnity  of  an  oath,  then  is 
drunkenness  a  most  frightful  source  of  death  among 
ourselves.  Nor  is  it,  if  the  keepers  of  prisons  and 
asylums  are  to  be  believed,  a  less  frightful  source  of 
poverty,  insanity  and  crime.  It  is  apparent  from 
the  bills  of  mortality  which  have  been  kept,  that  in 
a  single  year  twenty  deaths  have  been  occasioned  in 
Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  by  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors: 
twenty-one  in  Salem,  Mass. ;  thirty-one  in  New 

*  See  Edinburgh  Review  for  April,  1838;  Trades  Union. 

NOTT.  *2 


18  EVIDENCE   NEARER   HOME. 

Haven,  Conn.;  thirty  in  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  and 
seven  hundred  in  Philadelphia. 

The  average  duration  of  life  to  those  Irish  emi 
grants  who  pave  the  streets  and  rear  the  edifices  in 
the  city,  and  who  excavate  the  canals  and  grade  the 
railroads  in  the  country,  the  average  duration  of  life 
to  this  hard  laboring  (and  alas  !  that  it  should  be  so, 
till  of  late,  hard  drinking)  population,  is  said,  owing 
to  this  fatal  propensity,  to  have  been  reduced  to 
about  five  years  from  the  time  of  their  landing. 

And  it  is  also  said,  that  those  emigrants,  who  year 
after  year  enter  the  States  hale  and  healthy  from  the 
Canadas,  stripped  of  their  summer's  earnings  by  those 
harpies  of  the  dram-shop,  enter  on  the  winter  beg 
gared  and  comfortless,  and  that  a  third  of  their 
number,  before  the  next  spring  opens,  are,  not  unfre- 
quently,  in  their  graves. 

After  examination  had,  it  has  been  made  apparent, 
that  of  eight  hundred  and  eighty  maniacs  in  our 
asylums,  four  hundred  owe  their  loss  of  reason  to 
the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors.  That  seventeen 
hundred  out  of  nineteen  hundred  paupers  in  our 
poor-houses,  and  thirteen  hundred  out  of  seventeen 
hundred  criminals  in  our  prisons,  owe  their  pauper 
ism  and  their  crime  to  the  same  cause.  That  forty- 
three  out  of  forty-four  murders  were  committed 
under  the  influence  of  alcoholic  stimulus.  That 
sixty-seven  out  of  seventy-seven  found  dead,  died  of 
drunkenness,  and  that  four  hundred  out  of  six  hun 
dred  and  ninety  juvenile  delinquents  either  drank 
themselves  or  belonged  to  families  that  did  so. 


DEATH   AMONG   EMIGRANTS.  19 

"I  have  shown,"  says  that  indefatigable  agent, 
Samuel  Chipman,  Esq.,  who  visited  all  the  poor- 
houses  and  prisons  in  the  State  of  New-York,  "I 
have  shown  beyond  the  power  of  contradiction,  that 
more  than  three-fourths  of  all  the  pauperism  is  occa 
sioned  by  intemperance,  and  that  more  than  five- 
sixths  of  all  those  committed  for  crime,  are  them 
selves  intemperate.  In  no  poor-house  have  I  failed 
to  find  the  wife,  the  widow,  or  the  children  of  the 
drunkard.  In  one,  of  one  hundred  and  ninety  per 
sons  relieved  the  preceding  year,  were  nineteen  wives 
of  drunken  husbands,  and  seventy-one  children  of 
drunken  fathers.  And  in  almost  every  jail  were 
husbands  confined  for  whipping  their  wives,  or  other 
wise  abusing  their  households." 

This  is  certainly  sufficiently  near,  and  sufficiently 
specific.  And  yet  intoxicating  liquors,  shame  of 
human  reason,  disgrace  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
are  manufactured  and  bought  and  sold  and  drank 
among  us.  More  than  this,  their  manufacture  and 
sale  are  sanctioned  by  law,  as  well  as  usage.  And  a 
revenue  derived  from  this  polluted  and  polluting 
source,  by  some  strange  mistake  in  legislation,  is  re 
ceived  into  the  public  treasury. 

But  have  the  witnesses  relied  on  no  prepossessions  ? 
Is  there  no  exaggeration  in  their  statements  ?  I  have 
sometimes  thought  there  might  be  ;  and  I  have  there 
fore  done,  myself,  what  I  advise  each  of  you  to  do  : 
that  is  deliberately  to  look  around  you  and  take, 
within  the  circle  of  your  own  acquaintance,  the  di- 
dimensions  of  that  misery  which  intempeiance  occa- 


20  SOCIAL    CLUB    IN   SCHENECTADY. 

sions,  and  sum  up  the  number  of  dead  which  it  has 
slain. 

A  friend  of  mine  once  gave  me  the  number  and 
the  names  of  a  social  club  of  temperate  drinkers 
which  once  existed  in  Schenectady,  and  of  which, 
when  young,  he  was  himself  a  member ;  and  I  have 
remarked,  how  bereft  of  fortune,  how  bereft  of  repu 
tation,  bereft  of  health,  and  sometimes  even  bereft 
of  reason,  they  have  descended,  one  after  another, 
prematurely  to  the  grave ;  until  at  length,  though 
not  an  old  man,  that  friend  alone  remains,  of  all 
their  number,  to  tell  how  he  himself  was  rescued, 
from  a  fate  so  terrible,  by  the  timely  and  prophetic 
counsel  of  a  pious  mother.  And  I  have  marked  too 
how  those  pupils  of  my  own,  who,  in  despite  warn 
ing  and  admonition,  and  entreaty,  persisted  in  the 
use  of  intoxicating  liquors  while  at  college,  have,  on 
entering  the  world,  sunk  into  obscurity,  and  finally 
disappeared  from  among  those  rival  actors,  once  their 
companions,  rising  into  life ;  and  when,  searching 
out  the  cause,  I  have,  full  of  anxiety,  inquired  after 
one,  and  another,  and  another,  the  same  answer  has 
been  returned,  "  He  has  become,  or  gone  a  sot  into 
the  grave." 

Among  these  cases  of  moral  desolation,  I  remember 
one  of  peculiar  aggravation ;  it  was  that  of  a  gifted 
and  aspiring  individual,  and  a  professed  Christian. 
Crossed  and  humbled  by  domestic  affliction,  he  sought 
as  many  still  seek,  relief  in  alcohol.  His  friends 
foresaw  the  danger  and  warned  him  of  it;  that 
warning  he  derided ;  he  even  denied  the  existence  of 


CASE  OF  PECULIAR  AGGRAVATION.       21 

a  propensity,  which,  by  indulgence,  was  soon  there 
after  rendered  uncontrollable  ;  when  suddenly,  shrink 
ing  from  the  society  of  men,  he  shut  himself  up  in 
his  chamber  and  endeavored  to  drown  his  cares  in 
perpetual  inebriation. 

His  abused  constitution  soon  gave  way,  and  the 
death-scene  followed.  But  oh  !  what  a  death-scene  ! 
As  if  quickened  by  the  presence  of  the  King  of  Ter 
rors,  and  the  proximity  of  the  world  of  spirits,  his 
reason  suddenly  lighted  up,  and  all  his  suspended 
faculties  returned  in  their  strength.  But  they  re 
turned  only  to  give  to  retribution  a  severer  aspect, 
and  render  the  final  catastrophe  more  instructive  and 
more  terrible.  For  though  at  intervals  he  seemed  to 
pour  his  soul  out  in  confession,  and  to  implore  for 
giveness  in  the  most  thrilling  accents,  shame,  remorse, 
and  despair  were  predominant :  and  there  was,  at 
times,  an  awfulness  in  the  paroxysms  of  his  agony, 
which  no  words  can  describe,  and  which  can  be  real 
ized  by  those  only  who  witnessed  it.  "  There,"  said 
he,  pointing  to  his  bottle  and  his  glass,  which  he  had 
caused  to  be  placed  beside  his  death-bed,  "  there  is 
the  cause  of  all  my  misery :  that  cup  is  the  cup  of 
wretchedness  ;  and  yet,  fool  that  I  have  been  !  I  have 
drank  it;  drank  it  voluntarily,  even  to  its  dregs. 
Oh,  tell  those  miserable  men,  once  my  companions, 
who  dream  of  finding  in  inebriation,  oblivion  to  their 
miseries,  as  I  have  dreamed  of  this;  tell  them, — 
but  it  were  vain  to  tell  them  —  oh !  that  they  were 
present,  that  they  might  see,  in  me,  the  dreadful 
sequel,  and  witness,  in  anticipation,  the  unutterable 


22  CASE   OF   PECULIAR   AGGRAVATION. 

horrors  of  a  drunkard's  death."  Here  his  voice  fal 
tered — his  eye  fell  upon  the  abhorred  cup  —  and,  as 
his  spirit  fled,  a  curse,  half  articulated,  died  away 
upon  his  quivering  lip  ! 

Whatever  exaggeration  there  may  have  been  in 
those  other  statements,  in  these  there  is  no  exaggera 
tion.  This  is  not  poetry,  but  history.  Nor  is  this 
the  whole.  To  say  nothing  of  the  untitled  dead ; 
the  heads  of  families ;  the  members  of  families, 
whose  number  has  not  been  summed  up;  but — to 
say  nothing  of  these — how  many  clergymen,  how 
many  physicians,  how  many  jurists,  in  this  and  the 
neighboring  cities,  have,  during  the  existing  genera 
tion,  fallen  victims  to  this  destroyer  ?  Who  of  my 
equals  in  age,  does  not  remember  those  venerable 
men,  all  moderate  drinkers,  who  once  held,  in  Albany, 
their  meetings  at  noon-day?  And  who  does  not 
remember,  too,  the  result  of  those  meetings  ?  —  aye  ! 
and  of  those  other  meetings,  held  at  a  later  hour  by 
their  sons — those  young  men  of  promise,  that  were, 
but  are  not ! 

Over  all  classes  in  that  beloved  city  intemperance 
hath  cast  its  withering  influence.  Nor  over  these 
only.  There  is  no  city,  or  town,  or  hamlet,  known 
to  the  speaker,  where  it  is  otherwise.  Of  all  the 
avenues  to  death,  the  world  over,  this  is  the  broadest, 
steepest,  most  frequented.  The  sword  hath  indeed 
slain  its  thousands, — but  alcohol  its  ten  thousands! 

Even  in  this  republic,  we  are  told  by  those  familiar 
with  such  statistics,  that  there  are  more  than  five 
hundred  thousand  drunkards !  What  a  deduction 


FIVE    HUNDRED    THOUSAND   DRUNKARDS.  23 

from  our  national  virtue,  honor,  and  happiness ! 
What  an  addition  to  our  national  guilt,  infamy,  and 
misery  ! 

Could  you  see  those  wretched  beings  separated 
from  the  residue  of  community,  and  congregated 
together  in  some  great  common  Aceldama, — what  a 
spectacle  of  horror !  How  much  more  so,  could  you 
see  them  individualized,  dispersed  among  their 
friends  and  kindred,  and  linked  each  in  his  vileness, 
by  ties  tender  and  indissoluble,  to  other  beings, — . 
and  often  to  beings  of  the  purest  virtue,  of  the  live 
liest  sensibility,  and  the  loftiest  aspirings.  Ah ! 
could  you  see  them  thus,  what  guage  could  measure 
the  extent,  or  arithmetic  sum  up  the  amount,  of 
misery  comprehended  within  your  field  of  vision ! 
Oh  !  could  you  number  those  concealed  tears,  which 
flow  from  so  many  sleepless  eyes,  as  God  numbers 
them ;  and  hear  those  stifled  sighs,  that  escape  from 
so  many  sorrow-wounded  hearts,  as  God  hears  them, 
you  might  then,  but  not  till  then,  form  an  adequate 
idea  of  the  superadded  good  which  intoxicating 
liquors  must  hereafter  produce,  to  cancel  the  dread 
amount  of  gratuitous  evil  they  have  already  inflicted 
upon  mankind ! 

FIVE  HUNDRED  THOUSAND  drunkards  in  this  repub 
lic  !  !  But  I  will  not  vouch  for  the  accuracy  of  their 
enumeration.  I  am  aware  that  among  the  advocates 
of  almost  every  cause  there  exists  a  propensity  to 
exaggerate ;  and  I  will  not,  even  in  a  good  cause, 
insist  on  a  hypothetical  enumeration,  or  urge  an 
inconclusive  argument.  Not  having  verified  the 


24  FIVE   HUNDRED   THOUSAND   DRUNKARDS. 

details  furnished  of  local  drunkenness,  I  do  not  know 
with  certainty  the  national  amount. 

But  I  do  know,  if  drunkards  exist  elsewhere  as 
they  exist  in  the  Empire  State,  that  their  whole 
number  must  be  very  great.  For  I  do  know,  that 
here  they  crowd  our  prisons,  our  jails,  our  asylums, 
our  poor-houses,  and  our  work-shops ;  and  that  they 
may  be  found  in  our  drawing-rooms,  our  halls  of 
legislation,  our  halls  of  justice,  our  halls  of  science, 
and  even — alas,  that  it  should  be  so  !  —  our  temples 
of  devotion ! 

Besides  the  loss  of  the  intellectual  resource,  and 
the  physical  energy,  and  the  sufferance  of  the  indeli 
ble  national  disgrace,  and  the  deep  domestic  misery, 
which  this  mighty  army  of  drunkards  occasion,  they 
contribute,  as  has  already  been  shown,  more  than 
any  other  cause, — nay,  more  than  all  other  causes, — 
to  augment  our  poor  rates,  to  augment  the  expense 
for  criminal  arrests,  for  criminal  prosecutions,  and 
threaten  ultimately  to  overthrow  our  civil  institutions 
For,  if  their  numbers  shall  increase  hereafter  as  they 
have  increased  heretofore,  the  time  will  come,  in  this 
downward  career,  when  revenues  will  be  wanting  to 
furnish  bread  for  the  poor,  and  build  prisons  for  the 
guilty ;  because  the  time  will  come  when  the  earn 
ings  of  the  sober  and  industrious  few,  will  be  inade 
quate  to  provide  for  the  wants  of  the  drunken  and 
idle  many,  when  intemperance  itself,  amid  the  com 
mon  privation,  will  be  restrained  by  the  very  desti 
tution  which  intemperance  has  occasioned. 


MISERY   RESULTING.  25 

Be  the  number  of  drunkards  in  this  republic  what 
it  may,  that  drunkenness  exists,  and  that  to  a  fright 
ful  extent,  cannot  be  denied.  And  the  question  of 
chief  concern  is  : 

HOW    CAN   IT   BE   REMEDIED? 

Can  the  axe  be  laid  at  the  root  of  the  tree  ?  Or  is 
the  evil  incurable  ?  And  must  the  process  of  des 
truction  go  on  till  all  that  is  sublime  in  intellect, 
cheering  in  liberty,  and  holy  in  religion,  fades  and 
disappears  before  it  ?  Must  the  eye  as  it  glances 
onward  through  the  vista  of  futurity,  instead  of 
meeting  with  the  bright  and  joyous  scenes  of  pro 
gressive  improvement,  until  it  reaches  and  rests  on 
the  predicted  visions  of  millenial  glory — instead  of 
this,  must  it  meet  only  with  poverty,  and  crime,  and 
decay,  and  desolation  as  exhibited  in  diminished 
trade,  in  less  productive  husbandry,  in  forsaken  dwel 
lings  and  augmented  numbers  of  ragged,  squalid 
wretches  lounging  in  bar-rooms,  hanging  round  the 
doors  of  dram-shops,  staggering  along  the  public 
avenues,  or  snoring  in  the  gutters  of  those  lanes  and 
by-paths,  which  lead,  not  to  the  bread,  but  to  the 
beer  and  rum-selling  grocery  ?  Must  this  be  so  by 
any  necessity  of  nature  ?  Or  is  there  yet  a  remedy  ? 
There  is — here,  as  elsewhere — REMOVE  THE  CAUSE, 

AND  THE  EFFECT  CEASES. 

But  we  cannot  now  discuss,  at  length,  the  remedy. 
That  must  remain  for  a  future  opportunity.  In 
conclusion,  therefore,  we  have  only  briefly  to  say, 

NOTT.  3 


26  IS   THERE   ANY   REMEDY? 

that  if  we  would  rid  ourselves  of  the  curse  of  the 
drunkard's  drunkenness,  we  must  rid  ourselves  of 
the  use  of  the  drunkard's  drink.  There  is  no  alter 
native,  the  prevailing  usage  of  society  must  be 
annulled  or  provision  made,  and  made  by  us,  for 
its  future  maintenance — a  frightful  provision;  a 
provision  of  muscle,  and  of  mind,  as  well  as  of 
money ! 

I  repeat  it,  there  is  no  alternative ;  this  whole 
existing  system  of  moderate  drinking  must  be  abol 
ished,  or  the  expense  of  sustaining  it  provided  for  by 
us,  and  by  those  who  shall  live  after  us ;  as  it  has 
hitherto  been,  by  those  who  lived  before  us.  Yes, 
as  the  years  roll  round,  we  must  consent  to  the  deci 
mation  of  our  families,  and  the  families  of  our  friends 
and  neighbors,  that  we  may  furnish  therefrom  victims 
for  the  dispepsia,  the  dropsy,  the  delirium  tremens ; 
and  inmates  for  the  poor-house — the  house  of  cor 
rection —  and  the  house  of  silence!  More  than  this, 
having  furnished  the  victims  of  destruction,  we  must 
furnish  also  the  elements  of  destruction,  and  the 
ministers  of  destruction. 

We  must  pay  for  the  growing  of  the  grapes  and 
the  grain ;  then  for  the  manufacture  of  the  whiskey 
and  the  wine,  and  then  for  the  distribution  of  both, 
by  those  privileged  vendors,  whose  exclusive  right  it 
is  to  dispense  among  the  people  from  their  licensed 
stalls,  these  elements  of  death. 

Frightful  system !  What  a  wreck  of  life  :  what  a 
waste  of  money  its  continuance  must  occasion. 


MODERATE    DRINKING  —  EVILS    OF.  27 

Britain  pays,  as  appears  from  a  late  parliamentary 
report,  annually,  fifty  millions  sterling,*  for  the 
mere  articles  out  of  which  intoxicating  drinks  are 
fabricated.  Besides  which,  she  loses  annually  fifty 
millions  *  by  fires  and  wrecks  occasioned  by  the  drun 
kenness  which  those  fabricated  drinks  produce.  In 
like  manner,  she  loses  seventy  millions  by  the  pro 
ductive  industry  thus  paralyzed  and  rendered  profit 
less  ;  together  with  the  product  of  one-seventh  of 
her  soil,  which  is  appropriated  to  the  raising  of  arti 
cles  for  the  brew-house  and  the  still. 

If  such  be  the  ascertained  expense  of  sustaining 
the  usage  of  moderate  drinking  in  Britain,  what  must 
it  be  in  the  United  States?  What  in  this  State? 
What  in  this  city?  Were  the  inhabitants  of  which 
assembled,  or  could  my  voice  reach  them,  dispersed 
as  they  are,  I  would  say  to  the  heads  of  every  family 
apart :  Though  you  cannot  ascertain  how  much  the 
State  expends  for  intoxicating  liquors,  annually, 
you  can  ascertain  how  much  you  expend  yourself. 
Will  you  ascertain  this? — and  having  done  so,  dis 
tribute  under  appropriate  heads,  according  to  your 
best  judgment,  the  entire  amount. 

Say,  so  much  for  furnishing  victims  to  disease  — 
so  much  for  depriving  men  of  their  property — so 
much  for  depriving  men  of  their  reason — and  so 
much  for  peopling  the  grave  yard — so  much  for  cor 
rupting  the  morals  of  the  youth — so  much  for  aggra 
vating  the  miseries  of  age — so  much  for  disturbing 

*  $200,000,000. 


28  BRITAIN  —  UNITED    STATES. 

the  peace  of  families — so  much  for  embittering  the 
cup  of  connubial  joy — and  so  much  for  mingling 
humiliation  with  the  exercise  of  filial  piety. 

If  you  will  do  this,  you  will  know,  not  only  how 
much  money  you  have  paid  away,  but  you  will  know 
also  what  you  have  paid  that  money  for. 


LECTURE  No.  II. 


THE    REMEDY. 

Intoxicating  liquors  useful,  but  not  as  a  beverage  in  health  —  Those 
who  use  intoxicating  liquors,  and  live  to  be  old,  live  not  in  conse 
quence,  but  in  spite  of  drinking — Intoxicating  liquors  analogous 
to  exhilirating  gas  —  The  number  of  deaths  by  the  use  of  intoxi 
cating  liquors  very  great — The  waste  of  life  by  intoxicating 
liquors  supplied  from  the  ranks  of  temperate  drinkers — Delete 
rious  effects  of  distilled  liquors,  of  beer  and  of  bad  wine. 

HAVING  glanced,  in  the  preceding  lecture,  at  the 
frightful  evils  of  drunkenness,  we  come  now  to 
inquire, 

Whether  these  evils  are  endured  by  any  necessity  of 
nature,  or  whether  they  are  evils  for  which  a  remedy 
exists  ? 

The  latter  doubtless.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  remove 
the  cause  and  the  effect  ceases.  What  then  is  the 
cause  of  drunkenness?  It  is  drinking.  But  be  it 
observed,  that  it  is  not  the  drinking,  or  even  the 
excessive  drinking  of  water,  the  beverage  which 
nature  supplies  for  the  allaying  of  thirst,  or  of  milk, 
or  of  various  other  nutritive  and  healthful  beverages, 
but  the  drinking  of  intoxicating  liquors  only,  which 
produces  these  frightful  results. 

NOTT.  *3  * 


30   A  GOOD  CREATURE  —  USED  WITH  IMPUNITY. 

Why  then  should  the  drinking  of  those  liquors  be 
continued?  Why?  Me  thinks  I  hear  the  objector 
ask:  Deserves  this  question  even  a  reply? — would 
any  one  but  a  fanatic  propose  it?  Are  not  intoxi 
cating  liquors  among  the  good  creatures  of  God,  that 
their  use  as  a  beverage  must  be  relinquished?  Doubt 
less  they  are  among  the  good  creatures  of  God ;  and 
should  therefore  be  received  with  gratitude,  and  may 
be  used  with  innocence. 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  speak  irreverently  of  any  of 
the  bounties  of  Providence.  Intoxicating  liquors 
have  doubtless  their  appropriate  use,  and  may  there 
fore  be  used  whenever  and  wherever  their  use  is  ap 
propriate  ;  that  is  to  say,  they  may  be  used  in  the 
arts,  in  sickness,  in  great  physical  exhaustion ;  and, 
in  one  word,  on  all  those  occasions  and  for  all  those 
purposes  for  which  intended  by  the  Creator.  But 
does  it  follow  from  this  that  they  were  intended  by 
him  to  be  used  as  we  use  them,  habitually  and  as  a 
beverage  in  health  ?  And  if  not  so  intended  by  him, 
then  not  rightfully  so  used  by  us  ;  and  such  usage,  by 
whomsoever  indulged,  will  be  productive  of  ultimate 
misery.  It  is  vain  to  seek  happiness  where  God 
forbids  it,  and  the  search,  by  whatever  arguments 
defended,  and  however  long  continued,  will  end  in 
disappointment. 

But  some,  it  is  affirmed,  have  used  intoxicating 
liquors — even  distilled  liquors — through  a  long  life 
with  entire  impunity.  And  some  too,  it  is  also 
affirmed,  have  used  arsenic,  and  even  prussic  acid, 
with  a  like  impunity.  And  were  it  even  so,  could 


DOUBTFUL   WHETHER   USED  WITH   IMPUNITY.       31 

any  general  inference  be  drawn  from  this  ?  Or  should 
there  be,  and  should  arsenic  and  prussic  acid,  in  con 
sequence,  be  introduced  into  common  use?  What 
would  be  thought  of  the  man  who,  standing  amid 
the  dying  and  the  dead,  occasioned  by  their  intro 
duction,  should  still  point  to  the  few  solitary  cases  of 
seeming  exemption,  in  evidence  of  the  harmless  and 
even  healthful  tendency  of  these  destructive  agents  ? 
What  would  be  thought  of  him?  Precisely  what 
ought  to  be  thought  of  the  man  who  reasons  in  the 
same  manner  about  intoxicating  liquors,  that  how 
ever  honest  his  convictions  may  be,  the  conclusions 
arrived  at  are  not  the  less  erroneous  on  that  account. 
But  is  it  quite  certain  that  any  have  used  intoxi 
cating  liquors,  as  a  common  beverage,  through  a  long 
life,  with  entire  impunity  ?  That  such  use  of  those 
liquors  has  been  ruinous  to  multitudes  is  undeniable. 
And  yet  so  gradual  has  the  approach  of  their  ruin 
been,  that  years  have  passed  away  before  they  have 
been  convinced  of  such  approach.  Nor  have  they 
generally  been  convinced  of  it  till  it  was  too  late  to 
profit  by  the  conviction.  And  who  knows  but  those 
hoary  headed  veterans,  who  having  outlived  their 
generation,  still  drink  and  live  ;  who  knows  but  they 
still  live  in  spite,  not  in  consequence  of  drinking  ? 
Who  knows  but  each  treacherous  sip,  which  even 
these  men  of  years  have  taken  from  the  poisoned 
chalice,  may  not,  in  place  of  adding,  have  taken 
some  pulsations  from  a  heart  created  to  beat  so  often, 
some  moments  from  a  life  granted  to  endure  so  long  ? 
so  that  even  these  iron  constitutions  of  power  to 


32  WHO    BEST   JUDGES. 

withstand  so  much,  in  place  of  owing  anything  to 
alcohol,  may  have  been  only  impaired  and  enervated 
by  its  influence.*  But  who  so  well  knows  whether 


*  Dr.  A.  S.  Pierson,  of  Salem,  ii)  his  testimony  before  the  com 
mittee  of  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  said  he  had  been  a 
practitioner  of  medicine  for  twenty- two  years,  and  had  had  frequent 
opportunities  to  notice  the  effects  of  alcohol  on  the  physical  system. 
He  described  the  immediate  and  remote  effect  which  was  produced 
by  alcohol.  When  introduced  into  the  stomach,  a  morbid  action  is 
produced  approximating  to  inflammation.  This  was  greater  or  less 
in  proportion  to  the  quantity  used.  It  then  ascends  into  the  brain, 
and  materially  affects  the  action  of  that  delicate  organ,  interfering 
with  and  embarrassing  the  intellectual  operations.  It  also  causes  a 
quickened  motion  of  the  heart,  the  action  of  which  organ  is  thereby 
increased  —  being  an  exemplification  of  the  saying  that  "  a  man  lives 
too  fast."  This  excitement  is  succeeded  by  a  corresponding  degree 
of  languor.  The  free  use  of  alcohol  is  often  the  cause  of  apoplexy, 
and  congestion  of  the  brain. 

The  remote  effects  produced  by  the  use  of  alcoholic  liquors  as  a 
drink,  are  more  extensive.  It  is  often  the  cause  of  disease  in  the 
stomach,  occasioning  an  induration  or  thickening  of  the  lining  of 
that  organ  —  or  producing  ulceration.  The  pylorus,  or  outlet  of 
the  stomach  is  particularly  liable  to  be  affected.  It  also  produces  a 
morbid  effect  on  the  brain,  tending  to  apoplexy.  Also  on  the  heart, 
and  through  the  blood  by  means  of  the  capillary  vessels  to  the  far 
thest  parts  of  the  system,  causing  dropsy,  &c. 

It  affects  the  breathing  organs  —  distending  the  capillaries  of  the 
lungs,  and  creates  tubercles,  which  is  the  proximate  cause  of  con 
sumption.  It  also  often  causes  diseases  of  the  liver. 

The  habitual  use  of  alcohol  renders  the  whole  system  morbid,  and 
makes  ordinary  diseases  more  obstinate  and  difficult  to  be  cured.  It 
aggravates  various  diseases,  and  conduces  to  various  diseases.  Al 
though  the  effect  of  cold  on  the  system,  while  under  the  immediate 
excitement  of  ardent  spirits  may  be  diminished,  yet  in  a  short  time 
the  system  becomes  weak  and  languid,  and  more  susceptible  to  cold 
than  when  no  ardent  spirit  has  been  used.  Hence  when  a  man  is 
found  frozen  to  death,  an  empty  rum  bottle  is  almost  always  found 


DR.  PIEESON'S  TESTIMONY.  33 

the  habitual  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  is  beneficial, 
as  those  who  use  such  liquors  habitually ;  and  why 


by  his  side.  The  use  of  alcohol,  although  it  may  for  a  time  increase 
action,  does  not  increase  power. 

It  is  a  mistaken  notion  that  ardent  spirit  aids  a  man  in  enduring 
fatigue.  It  causes  him  to  exert  himself  more  for  a  brief  period, 
but  at  the  expense  of  his  constitution.  A  man  who  pursues  this 
course,  merely  silences  the  monitor  which  tells  him  he  has  labored 
enough.  He  disregards  the  voice  of  his  physical  conscience  by 
using  alcoholic  drinks,  and  thus  injures  his  physical  system. 

In  the  cross-examination  of  Dr.  Pierson,  the  following  facts  were 
brought  out  in  relation  to  the  habits  and  age  of  the  late  Dr.  Holyoke, 
of  Salem. 

Mr.  Hallet. —  How  long  may  a  person  use  ardent  spirits  moderately, 
without  any  perceptible  injury  to  health  1 

Dr.  Pierson. —  In  very  small  quantities  a  long  time.  A  man  may 
use  poison  of  any  sort,  in  very  small  quantities,  and  yet  be  preserved  by 
the  conservative  principle  implanted  in  the  human  system  as  a  defence. 

Mr.  Hallet. —  Were  you  acquainted  with  the  late  Dr.  Holyoke,  of 
Salem  7 

Dr.  Pierson. —  Yes.     I  had  the  honor  of  being  his  biographer. 

Mr.  Hallet. —  How  long  did  he  live  1 

Dr.  Pierson. —  One  hundred  years. 

Mr.  Hallet.—  What  were  his  habits? 

Dr.  Pierson. —  He  was  in  the  habit  of  being  temperate  in  all  things. 
He  was  a  man  of  most  remarkable  character  —  never  tempted  to 
excess.  He  used  to  live  without  much  care  —  without  thinking 
whether  he  would  do  himself  harm  or  not.  He  was  very  cheerful, 
and  of  a  very  benevolent  heart  and  easy  conscience,  and  patient  of 
little  injuries.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  using  intoxicating  drinks  in 
small  quantities.  He  had  a  preparation  which  consisted  of  one  table 
spoonful  of  Jamaica  rum  and  one  table  spoonful  of  cider,  diluted 
with  water,  which  he  used  after  dinner  while  smoking  his  pipe ;  I 
•would  mention  in  connection  with  this  habit,  that  he  did  not  die  of 
old  age.  I  examined  the  body  myself  with  very  great  care  and 
attention.  The  heart  and  organs  which  are  apt  to  be  diseased  in 
aged  persons,  and  to  become  hardened  like  stone,  were  as  soft  as  an 


34  DR.  PIERSON'S  TESTIMONY. 

on  this  mere  question  of  fact  is  not  their  testimony 
decisive  ?     Because  these  liquors  act  on  the  mind  as 


infant's;  and  for  aught  that  appeared,  might  have  gone  another 
hundred  years.  And  so  of  the  other  organs.  The  liver  and  brain 
were  in  a  healthy  state.  He  died  of  the  disease  which  is  most  com 
monly  produced  by  the  use  of  ardent  spirits  and  tobacco,  an  internal 
cancer.  There  was  a  band  three  or  four  inches  broad  around  the 
stomach,  which  was  schirrous  or  thickened.  I  am  far  from  wishing 
to  say  anything  to  the  discredit  of  the  late  Dr.  Holyoke,  who  was  my 
personal  friend.  But  if  his  great  age  is  to  be  made  an  argument  for 
the  moderate  use  of  spirits,  I  desire  that  his  schirrous  stomach 
should  be  put  along  side  of  it. — Temperance  Journal  for  1839,^.  67. 

Dr.  Gordon,  of  the  London  Hospital,  stated  before  the  committee 
of  the  House  of  Commons  in  Great  Britain,  "that  seventy-five  cases 
of  disease  out  of  every  hundred  could  be  traced  to  drinking." 

He  also  declared  "  that  most  of  the  bodies  of  moderate  drinkers, 
which,  when  at  Edingburgh  he  had  opened,  were  found  diseased  in 
the  liver ;  and  that  those  symptoms  appeared  also  in  the  bodies  of 
temperate  people,  which  he  had  examined  in  the  West  Indies.  He 
more  than  once  says  that  the  bodies  whose  livers  he  had  found  dis 
eased  were  those  of  moral  and  religious  people." 

That  human  life  shall  be  very  greatly  prolonged  beyond  its  present 
limits,  is  one  of  the  plain  declarations  of  prophecy.  The  following 
is  Dr.  Lowth's  translation  of  the  65th  chap,  of  Isaiah,  verse  20,  23 : 

"  No  more  shall  there  be  an  infant  short  lived, 
Nor  an  old  man  who  hath  not  fulfilled  his  days  ; 
For  he  that  dieth  a  hundred  years  old  shall  die  a  boy, 
And  the  sinner  that  shall  die  at  a  hundred  years 
Shall  be  deemed  accursed. 

"  And  they  shall  build  houses  and  inhabit  them ; 
And  they  shall  plant  vineyards  and  eat  the  fruit  of  them ; 
They  shall  not  build  and  another  inhabit ; 
They  shall  not  plant  and  another  eat. 

11  For  as  the  days  of  a  tree  shall  be  the  days  of  my  people, 
And  they  shall  wear  out  the  works  of  their  own  hands. 
My  chosen  shall  not  labor  in  vain, 
Neither  shall  they  generate  a  short  lived  race." 


STATISTICS   OF  LONGEVITY. 


35 


well  as  the  body.     Hence  all  who  use  them  become 
excited ;  some  less,  some  more ;  some  even  to  mad- 


In  the  tables  of  mortality  for  England  and  Wales,  commencing  at 
1813,  and  ending  with  1830,  being  a  period  of  eighteen  years,  we 
find  that  from  the  age  of  eighty-one  to  that  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty-four,  upwards  of  two  hundred  and  forty-five  thousand  per 
sons  were  buried.  Of  these  eleven  thousand  one  hundred  and 
seventy-three  lived  to  the  age  of  ninety,  and  seven  hundred  and 
seven  lived  to  the  age  of  one  hundred  years  ;  eighteen  lived  to  one 
hundred  and  ten ;  three  died  at  one  hundred  and  twenty,  and  ono 
man  lived  to  be  one  hundred  and  twenty-four. 

The  following  well  authenticated  instances  of  longevity,  are  copied 
from  Baker's  Curse  of  Britain,  page  24,  second  edition  : 


Names. 

Years. 

Names. 

Years. 

Eleanor  Aymar 

lived    103 

John  Gordon 

lived 

132 

Ellen  Pritchard 

"        103 

John  Taylor 

" 

133 

(  104 

Catharine  Lopez 

it 

134 

Her  Sisters 

"     -1 
(  108 

Margaret  Forster 

it 

136 

Paul  the  Hermit 

113 

John  Mount 

it 

136 

James  the  Hermit 

"         104 

Margaret  Patten 

tt 

137 

St.  John  the  Silent 

"        104 

Juan  Morroygota 

" 

138 

St.  Theodosius 

"        105 

Rebecca  Parry 

it 

140 

Thomas  Davis 

"         106 

Dumitor  Radaloy 

tt 

140 

His  wife 

11        105 

Countess  of  Desmond 

" 

140 

Ann  Parker 

"        108 

Mr.  Ecleston 

" 

143 

St.  Anthony 

"        105 

Solomon  Nibel 

M 

143 

Simon  Stylites 

"         109 

William  Evans 

C. 

145 

Mrs.  Ann  Wall 

"         111 

Joseph  Bam 

tt 

146 

St.  Epiphanius 

"        115 

Col.  Thomas  Winsloe 

ti 

146 

Arsenius 

120 

Slywark  Hen 

tt 

150 

Romualdus 

"         120 

Judith  Crawford 

1C 

150 

Apollonius  of  Tyana 

"         130 

Catharine  Hyatt 

tt 

150 

Margaret  Darly 

"        130 

Francis  Consist 

tt 

152 

Francis  Peat 

"         ISO 

James  Bowels 

M 

152 

William  Ellis 

"         130 

Thomas  Parr 

If 

152 

Damberger 

"         130 

Thomas  Dama 

(1 

154 

Peter  Garden 

"        131 

Robert  Lynch 

11 

160 

36  STATISTICS   OF  LONGEVITY. 

ness.  Indeed  it  may  be  questioned  whether  our 
perceptions  are  not  always  more  clear,  and  our  judg 
ment  more  correct,  without  than  with  these  feverish 
excitements.  I  do  not  pretend  to  have  had  any 
peculiar  advantages  for  observing  the  effects  of  alco- 


Names.                          Years.        Names.  Years. 

Mrs.  Letitia  Cox  lived    160  Peter  Portin  lived     185 

Sarah  Rovin                   "        164  Mongate  "        185 

Henry  Jenkins                "        169  Petratsch  Czarten  "        185 

John  Rovin                     "        172  Thomas  Caen  "        207 

From  the  Statistics  of  Russia,  it  appears  that  in  1838  there  were 
in  that  country  the  following  instances  of  longevity  : 

850  persons    had  reached    from  100  to  105  years. 

120  "  "  110    "    115       " 

121  "                        "  121    "    125       " 
3                "                        "  126    "    130      " 
5               "                        "  131    "    140      " 
1                "                        "  145 

3  "  "  150  to  155  years. 

1  "  "  160 

1  "  "  165 

Herodotus  tells  us  that  the  average  life  of  the  Macrobians  was  one 
hundred  and  twenty  years,  and  that  they  never  drank  anything 
stronger  than  milk. 

Speaking  of  the  New  Zealanders,  Hawkenworth  says :  "  Water  is 
their  universal  and  only  liquor,  and  in  all  our  visits  to  their  towns, 
we  never  saw  a  single  person  who  appeared  to  have  any  bodily 
complaint." 

A  further  proof  of  health,  is  the  facility  with  which  wounds  heal, 
and  a  still  further,  is  the  great  number  of  old  men  we  saw ;  many 
of  whom  by  the  loss  of  their  hair  and  teeth,  appeared  to  be  very 
ancient,  yet  none  were  decrepit ;  and  though  not  equal  to  the  young 
in  muscular  strength,  were  not  a  whit  behind  them  in  cheerfulness 
and  vivacity. —  Bacchus,  p.  115. 


EXHILIRATING   GAS.  37 

holic  stimulants;    but  I  have  often  witnessed   the 
operation  of  a  kindred  influence. 

It  is  usual  for  lecturers  on  chemistry  to  administer 
to  certain  of  their  hearers  a  gas,  called  in  common 
parlance,  exhilirating  gas ;  why  this  is  done  I  know 
not,  unless  it  be  to  show  how  much  like  madmen 
individuals  previously  sane,  may,  by  artificial  stimu 
lus,  be  made  to  act ;  a  purpose,  if  indeed  such  be 
the  purpose,  which  is  answered  most  effectually. 

Now  to  breathe  this  gas  too  long  is  death ;  this, 
those  who  are  about  to  breathe  it  know ;  and  yet 
knowing  this,  no  sooner  do  they  commence  the 
breathing  of  this  gas,  than  they  severally  persist  in 
continuing  to  breathe  it ;  and  they  would  persist  in 
continuing  to  breathe  it  even  to  the  death  if  not  for 
cibly  prevented. 

The  case  of  the  inebriate  seems  to  be  analogous. 
For,  having  once  acquired  the  taste  for  intoxicating 
liquor,  though  he  foresees  the  consequence,  he  clings 
with  a  death  grasp  to  the  chalice  in  which  it  is  con 
tained,  and  from  which  he  can  only  be  disengaged  by 
violence. 

But  though,  (not  like  exhilirating  gas,  which  always 
kills  if  continued,)  intoxicating  liquor  were  innocuous 
to  certain  individuals,  since,  who  they  are  can  only 
be  known  by  an  experiment  which  must  prove  fatal 
to  most  of  those  who  try  it,  can  it  be  a  question 
whether  such  experiment  ought  to  be  from  age  to  age 
repeated  ? 

Terrible  as  drunkenness  is,  it  is  not  only  computed, 
as  has  been  shown,  that  there  are  five  hundred  thou- 

NOTT-  4 


38  LIFE   OF  DRUNKARDS   SHORT. 

sand  drunkards  in  this  republic,  but  it  has  also  been 
computed,  that  of  our  entire  population,  one  in 
twenty-six  die  drunkards.  If  one-half  of  that  popu 
lation  practice  total  abstinence,  and  including  women 
and  children,  this  is  probably  the  case,  then,  of  all 
who  drink,  one  in  thirteen  die  drunkards. 

Now  the  life  of  drunkards  by  way  of  eminence,  is 
short.  Generations  of  them  are  swept  away  with  a 
rapidity  that  amazes.  And  yet  their  frightful  num 
ber  is  not  diminished. 

Whence  do  the  successive  columns  of  this  unbro 
ken  and  mighty  army  of  inebriates  come  ?  How  are 
its  perpetually  thinned  ranks,  perpetually  filled  up  ? 
Where  is  the  exhaustless  fountain  that  sends  forth 
this  everlasting  stream  of  life,  to  replenish  those 
mighty  wastes  which  death  by  drunkenness  occasions  ? 
Where  ?  In  the  bosom  of  moderate  drinking  fami 
lies;  often  intelligent,  amiable  and  even  educated 
moderate  drinking  families. 

Who  does  not  know  that  this  class  of  community 
furnished  all  the  raw  material,  the  muscle  and  sinew, 
the  intellect  and  virtue,  in  one  word  all  the  bodies 
and  souls  of  men  to  be  operated  on.  Nay,  that  they 
perform  the  operation  ;  unintentionally,  I  admit,  still 
that  they  perform  the  operation,  by  which  that  fright 
ful  transformation  of  moderate  into  immoderate 
drinkers  is  effected. 

Yes,  those  interesting  little  groups  of  moderate 
drinking  families,  where  everything  is  so  tasteful  and 
orderly ;  where  so  many  moralities  are  practiced,  so 
many  sympathies  cherished,  and  so  many  charities 


SUPPLIED   FROM    TEMPERATE   DRINKERS.  39 

dispensed ;  those  groups  are  the  primary  assemblies, 
whence  most  of  the  drunkards,  which  infest  and  dis 
grace  community,  are  sent  abroad.  Nay,  they  are 
the  elementary  schools  in  which  the  first  principles 
of  inebriation  are  practically  taught. 

In  these  families,  and  in  those  larger  social  circles 
in  which  they  meet,  temptation  in  a  thousand  covert 
and  alluring  forms  is  every  day  presented ;  and  under 
a  thousand  plausible  pretences,  usages  are  main 
tained,  that  go  to  create  the  taste,  to  confirm  the 
habit,  and  carry  forward,  through  all  its  humiliating 
stages,  that  downward  process,  by  which  one  gene 
ration  of  temperate  drinkers  after  another  are 
gradually  transformed  into  intemperate  drinkers,  and 
thus  qualified  to  take,  in  their  turn,  the  place  of 
those  confirmed  drunkards  who  are  constantly  making 
their  way,  through  the  poor-house  and  the  prison- 
house  and  every  other  avenue  of  death,  down  to  the 
charnel-house. 

And  if,  as  has  been  computed  by  Chipman,  one  in 
thirteen  of  all  who  drink,  die  drunkards,  and  if,  as 
has  also  been  computed,  the  drunkard's  life  is  shorter 
than  the  lives  of  other  men ;  and  if  the  perpetually 
thinned  ranks  of  drunkards  are  wholly  filled  up  from 
the  ranks  of  moderate  drinkers,  how  long,  even 
though  there  were  no  other  cause  of  mortality  :  How 
long,  to  speak  in  the  language  of  political  econo 
mists,  would  it  take  at  the  present  rate  of  demand 
and  supply,  to  remove  from  the  world,  by  intempe 
rance  alone,  the  entire  moderate  drinking  moiety  of 
the  human  family? 


40  INQUEST  FEOM  HEAVEN. 

In  how  many,  think  you,  among  those  who  now 
appear  entirely  sane  and  healthful,  are  the  seeds  of 
future  disease  and  dissolution  sown  ? 

In  how  many  will  the  secret  malady  begin  to  be 
developed  this  year,  in  how  many  the  next,  and  in 
how  many  the  year  thereafter  ? 

Were  an  Inquest  held  by  some  minister  from 
Heaven  for  separating  from  the  congregation  of 
moderate  drinkers  all  infected  persons,  as  the  leprous 
were  separated  from  the  congregations  of  Israel, 
what  think  you  would  be  the  discoveries  of  such  an 
inquest  ? 

Could  we,  looking  round  on  our  families  and  kin 
dred  and  neighbors,  see  their  real  condition  as  God 
sees  it,  might  it  not  be  said  of  one  and  another  not 
now  suspected,  "  That  in  this  and  this  individual  the 
infection  has  taken,  and  the  process  of  death  begun?" 
So  much  more  time,  and  so  many  additional  demi 
johns  of  wine  or  barrels  of  beer  or  jugs  of  rum,  is 
all  that  is  wanting  to  ripen  into  maturity  the  inflamed 
eye,  the  bloated  countenance,  the  demented  look,  the 
disgusting  hiccough,  and  even  the  frightful  delirium 
tremens. 

This  is  not  history.  I  know  it  is  not,  but  I  also 
know  that  to  many  a  temperate  drinking  family, 
within  my  hearing,  unless  they  change  their  habits, 
or  nature  her  laws,  it  will  one  day  become  history ! 

Considering  the  hazard  that  attends  even  the  mode 
rate  habitual  use  of  intoxicating  liquors,  who  can 
say  of  any  living  man,  that  so  uses  those  liquors, 
that  he  is  safe  ? 


DISTILLED    LIQUORS   RELINQUISHED.  41 

Or,  though  this  might  be  said  of  some,  is  it  certain 
that  it  can  be  said  of  you?  You  have  tasted  of  that 
chalice,  sparingly  I  admit — still  you  have  tasted  of 
it,  often  tasted  of  it ;  and  who  knows  whether  the 
disease  it  so  often  generates  may  not,  though  latent 
have  been  already  generated. 

A  disease  destined  hereafter  to  impair  your  reason, 
to  impair  your  constitution,  and  bring  down  your 
manly  frame  prematurely  and  with  dishonor  to  the 
grave. 

But  though  you  were  safe,  is  it  certain  that  your 
children  and  your  children's  children  who  surround 
your  table,  and  have  access  to  your  sideboard,  where 
temptation  in  so  many  forms  is  from  day  to  day  pre 
sented — is  it  certain  that  all  these  are  safe  also?  Is 
it  certain  that  that  son  of  thine,  wise  above  his  years, 
that  daughter,  lovely  beyond  her  sex,  may  not  even 
now  be  under  the  inceptive,  undiscovered,  unsus 
pected,  influence  of  a  malady,  often  insidious  and 
lingering  indeed,  but  always  progressive,  and  as  inex 
orable  as  death? 

But  in  reply  to  this,  it  will  be  said  in  certain  quar 
ters,  "  Though  we  and  ours  make  use  of  intoxicating 
liquors,  they  are  fermented,  not  distilled  liquors : 
rum,  gin,  brandy,  and  those  other  noxious  products 
of  the  still,  have  long  since  been  relinquished ;  and 
surely,  mere  malt  liquor,  when  used  in  moderation,  cannot 
injure  any  one;  and  as  to  wine,  the  Bible  sanctioned  its 
use  in  Palestine,  and  still  sanctions  its  use" 

It  is  well  to  have  relinquished  the  use  of  rum,  gin, 
brandy  and  those  other  noxious  products  of  the  still. 
NOTT.  *4 


42  EFFECTS   OF  ALCOHOL. 

And  it  were  well  for  any  who  have  not  yet  relin 
quished  their  use  to  inquire  into  their  nature,  and 
their  effects  upon  the  human  organism,  that  they  too 
may  be  the  better  prepared  to  decide  whether  it  be 
not  wise  in  them  also  to  relinquish  their  use. 

Alcohol  (which  is  the  sole  intoxicating  principle  in 
these  liquors,  when  unadulterated),  "pure  alcohol 
coagulates  all  the  animal  fluids  except  the  urine,  and 
hardens  the  solid  parts.  It  instantly  contracts  the 
extremities  of  the  nerves  it  touches,  and  deprives 
them  of  sense  and  motion.  If  received  into  the 
stomach,  it  produces  the  same  effects.  If  the  quan 
tity  be  considerable,  a  palsy  or  apoplexy  follows, 
ending  in  death."  Alcohol  used  constantly,  and  in 
less  quantities,  causes  inflammation  in  this  delicate 
organ:  "The  disease  is  insidious,  and  invariably 
advances,  thickening  and  indurating  the  walls  of  the 
stomach,  and  producing  sometimes  schirrous  and 
sometimes  cancer;  the  orifices  become  occasionally 
indurated  and  contracted,  and  when  this  is  the  case, 
death  soon  puts  an  end  to  the  sufferings  of  the 
wretched  victims." 

It  should  seem  that  such  an  article,  an  article  not 
contained  in  rye,  or  barley,  or  grapes,  or  apples ;  not 
the  product  of  the  vineyard,  or  the  orchard,  or  the 
harvest-field,  as  is  usually  supposed,  but  the  product 
of  putrefaction ;  it  should  seem  that  such  an  article, 
an  article  at  once  the  product  of  death  and  the  ele 
ment  of  death ;  it  should  seem  that  such  an  article 
contained  enough  of  vengeance  in  it  to  satisfy  the 


ADULTERATION   OF   ALCOHOL.  43 

avarice  of  dealers  and  the  appetite  of  drinkers,  with 
out  the  addition  of  other  and  more  deadly  ingredients. 

But  so  is  not  the  fact ! 

Chemistry,  which  revealed  the  process  by  which 
alcohol  is  obtained,  has  also  revealed  the  further  pro 
cess  by  which  it  may  be  adulterated,  and  cheaper  as 
well  as  more  deadly  poisons  furnished.  By  such  a 
revelation  avarice  has  not  failed  to  profit ;  and  as  the 
knowledge  of  that  further  process  has  gradually  been 
extended,  the  use  of  alcohol  has  gradually  dimin 
ished,  and  intenser  poisons  been  substituted  in  its 
place,  till  death  has  come  to  be  more  certainly  than 
formerly  dispensed  in  the  inebriating  cup,  whether 
poured  out  by  the  hand  of  the  landlord  or  the  gro 
cer!*  So  much  for  distilled  liquors.  More  might 


*  In  Dubrunfant  and  Jones,  translated  by  Sheridan,  4th  ed.,  Lon 
don,  1830,  it  is  asserted  in  reference  to  French  brandies,  page  132  : 
"  They  are  designedly  imitated.  Dulcified  nitre  is  used  for  that 
purpose."  Page  140  :  "Many  distillers  substitute  caustic  alkalies  ; 
in  fact,  almost  every  distiller  has  some  secret  nostrum  for  rectifying 
his  spirits.  They  may  be  all  reduced  to  three ;  by  fixing  alkaline 
salts;  by  acid  spirits  mixed  with  saline  salts;  and  by  saline  bodies 
and  flavoring  additions." 

Page  145 :  *'  Malt  spirit  is  usually  sold  by  weight  to  rectifying 
distillers,  who  distil  it  over  again,  combining  it  with  certain  materials, 
with  a  view  of  making  it  into  gin,  brandy,  rum,"  &c. 

Page  158,  speaking  of  the  various  methods  used  for  the  "  sophisti 
cation"  of  brandy,  &c.,  he  says  of  one  of  them :  "  this  brandy  recedes 
from  those  distilled  spirits  reckoned  safe  and  wholesome."  Of 
another  method :  "  This  brandy  is  more  depraved  than  the  first,  as  it 
comes  over  the  still  nearly  as  so  much  ardent  spirits  ( malt)  mixed 
with  brandy,  and  it  will  of  course  exert  its  noxious  qualities  upon 
those  who  drink  it." 


44  TESTIMONY. 

indeed  be  said ;  but  more  is  not  necessary.  They 
who  believe  not  Moses  and  the  Prophets,  would  not 
believe,  though  one  were  to  rise  from  the  dead. 


"  The  most  general  mode  of  adulterating  is,  by  putting  a  counter 
feit  kind  to  the  genuine.  This  counterfeit  brandy  is  made  of  malt 
spirits,  dulcified  by  a  re-distillation  of  acids." 

Page  159 :  "  Lapis  infernalis,  ( infernal  stone),  made  of  lime,  pearl- 
ash,  potash,  &c.,  is  used  for  keeping  down  the  feints,  has  a  great 
effect  upon  the  wholesomeness  of  the  liquors.  The  acid  used  in  the 
preparation  of  counterfeit  brandy,  is,  aquafortis.  When  combined 
with  rectified  spirits,  it  raises  a  flavor  and  taste  much  resembling 
those  of  brandy  ;  but  if  a  certain  proportion  of  water  be  mixed  with 
such  brandy,  a  separation  of  the  ardent  spirits  and  acid  immediately 
follows." 

The  noxious  effects  of  these  on  the  health  of  those  who  drink  such 
brandy  are  often  melancholy  in  the  extreme. 

Page  161 :  He  mentions  that  various  simple  additions  are  made  to 
weak  spirits  to  give  a  heat. 

Page  193  :  "  Pearl  ashes,  potash,  ashes,  soaper's  ley  water,  oil  of 
almonds,  oil  of  vitrol,  &c.,  to  make  artificial  proof  ."  So  convinced 
was  he  of  the  danger  of  this,  that  he  says :  "  Notwithstanding  I 
have  given  it,  I  do  not  recommend  any  to  use  it." 

Page  194:  "Vitriolic  liquor,  composed  of  spirits  of  wine,  oil  of 
vitriol,  and  the  stronger  caustics,  &c.,  used  to  dissolve  and  to  keep 
in  solution  the  poisonous  oils  in  liquor,  and  to  prevent  waste." 

Page  197 :  "  Dulcified  spirits  of  nitre,  made  of  spirits  of  wine  and 
nitrous  acid  ;  to  make  counterfeit  French  brandy." 

Page  205  :  "Oil  of  wormwood." 

Page  210 :  "  Kernels  of  apricots,  nectarines,  peaches,  and  bitter 
almonds." 

Page  212  :  "Oil  or  essence  of  ambergris." 

Page  214:  "Alum." 

Page  221 :  "  Logwood." 

Page  256:  "Pepper." 

Page  486  :  "  Potashes,  alkalis,  salt  worts,  and  lime." 

Page  202 :  "  Spirits  of  nitre,  either  strong  or  dulcified,  used  to  give 
vinosity  to  spirits." 


TESTIMONY.  45 

As  to  mere  malt  liquor,   not  now  to  agitate  the 
question  whether  it  be  harmless ;   nor  the  question 

Page  235  :  "Carbonic  acid  gas  for  wines,  to  conceal  their  acidity 
by  certain  substances,  and  if  this  cannot  be  longer  done,  to  turn  them 
into  vinegar." 

Page  475  :  u  Acids  used  to  give  sharpness  to  liquors,  &c." 

Page  463  :  "  The  essential  oil,  or  empyreuma,  acrid,  and  caustic." 

Page  468  :  "  This  oil  is  so  energetic  that  a  few  drops  are  sufficient 
to  give  an  obnoxious  taste  to  a  whole  pipe.  It  is  most  difficult  to 
succeed  in  separating  this  oil  from  distilled  spirits.  The  distillers 
nse  other  ingredients  to  mask  their  qualities." 

Page  469 :  "  Grain  and  potatoes,  when  distilled,  have  an  essential 
oil,  from  certain  causes,  much  worse  than  that  furnished  by  those 
vegetables.  This  oil  is  acrid  and  extremely  caustic.  Distillers 
endeavor  to  disguise  its  flavor." 

Page  507 :  "  The  oil  in  the  spirits  of  lees  is  so  penetrating  and 
acrid,  that  six  drops  are  sufficient  to  infect  a  whole  pipe." 

Page  508 :  "  It  is  certain  that  lees  and  spirits  contain  a  peculiar 
oil,  odorous  and  very  acrid,  altering  their  qualities  very  much." 

Extracts  from  the  Wine  and  Spirit  Merchants'  Companion. 
J.  HARTLEY,  London,  1835. 

Page  13 :  "  Beading  for  brandy,  rum,  &c.  Oil  of  sweet  almonds, 
oil  of  vitrol,  &c." 

Page  15 :  "  Clearings  for  wine.  The  size  of  a  walnut  of  sugar  of 
lead,  with  sal-eruxum." 

Page  25  :  "  Finings  for  gin.     Roach  alum." 

Page  20:  "  To  make  gin.  Oils  of  juniper,  bitter  almonds,  cassia, 
oil  of  vitrol." 

Page  31 :  "  Twenty  gallons  of  water  may  be  added,  as  the  ingre 
dients  (  30 )  will  give  ten  gallons  more  apparent  strength." 

Page  32  :  "  To  clear  tainted  gin.  American  potash,  roach  alum, 
salts  of  tarter,  &c." 

Page  35 :  "  Rum  reduced  with  strong  beer  and  water,  which  is 
sold  for  rum." 

Page  41 :  "  To  make  brandy  imitate  the  French.  Oil  of  cassia, 
bitter  almonds,  tincture  of  isponia,  venella,  &c.* 

Page  83  :  "  To  make  spirits  over  proof.     Soap  and  potashes." 


46  ADULTERATION   OF   MALT   LIQUORS. 

whether  impure  water  be  or  be  not  used  in  brewing ;  * 
and  though  it  were  conceded  that  such  liquor  were 

Page  127 :  "  To  imitate  port  wine.  Cider  brandy  and  a  little  port 
made  rough  with  certain  ingredients,  &c." 

Page  144:  To  sweeten  casks.  "Boil  fresh  cow  dung,  and  soak  the 
casks  with  it." 

Page  151 :  To  strengthen  gin.  "  Be  particular  in  the  quantity 
used.  The  spirits  will  appear  stronger  than  they  really  are  by  fivo 
per  cent.  Blue  stone,  oil  of  vitrol,  oil  of  almonds,  &c." 

Page  154  :  Cordial  Gin.  "  Oil  of  bitter  almonds,  oil  of  vitrol.  and 
oil  of  turpentine,  &c." 

From  a  "  treatise  on  brewing  and  distilling,"  by  Shannon,  page  167. 
"  It  is  a  custom  among  retailing  distillers,  which  I  have  not  taken 
notice  of  in  this  directory,  to  put  one-third  or  one-fourth  part  of 
proof  molasses  brandy,  proportionably  to  what  rum  they  dispose  of; 
which  cannot  be  distinguished  except  by  an  extraordinary  palate, 
and  does  not  at  all  lessen  the  body  or  quality  of  the  goods,  but 
makes  them  about  two  shillings  a  gallon  cheaper,  and  must  be  well 
mixed  and  incorporated  together  in  your  retailing  cask;  but  you 
should  keep  some  of  the  best  rum,  not  adulterated,  to  please  some 
customers  whose  judgment  and  palate  must  be  humored." 

*  Not  that  no  reason  for  the  agitation  of  these  questions  exists,  for 
to  use  the  words  of  a  brewer,  who,  when  asked,  ' '  Do  you  know 
what  filthy  water  they  use  in  brewing  V  replied,  "  Oh  yes,  I  know 
all  about  it,  and  the  more  filthy  the  water  the  better.  In  the  great 
brewery  in  which  for  years  I  have  been  employed,  the  pipes  which 
drew  the  water  from  the  river  came  in  just  at  the  place  which 
received  the  drainings  from  the  horse  stables  ;  and  there  is  no  such 
beer  in  the  world  as  was  made  from  it."  "  But  is  not  fermentation 
a  purifying  process,  and  does  it  not  remove  from  the  beer  whatever 
is  hurtful,  filthy,  or  disgusting  V  This  question  has  received,  from 
one  competent  to  reply,  the  following  answer :  "  The  tartar ic  acid 
which  may  cause  the  gout  in  wine,  the  poisonous  qualities  of  the 
hop,  the  henbane,  the  cocculus  indicus,  nux  vomica,  grains  of  para 
dise,  copperas,  or  opium -used,  are  not  removed  by  fermentation  from 
beer,  nor  is  the  foul  matter  of  animal  substances  put  in  to  promote 
the  fermentation  and  vegetation  of  the  malt  by  any  means  fully 
removed."— Journal  A.  T.  U.  for  1837,  p.  103. 


TESTIMONY.  47 

good,  very  good  for  everybody ;  still  there  are  other 
things,  to  wit,  henbane,  nux  vomica,  coccuhis  indi- 
cus,  sulphuric  acid,  and  numerous  other  abomina 
tions  which  are  not  a  whit  the  less  hurtful  on  that 
account. 

This  is  not  mere  declamation,  but  known  and 
established  truth.*  But  enough  of  mere  malt  liquor. 
And  as  to  wine  —  although  the  Bible  did  authorize 


*  In  S.  Child's  Practical  Treatise  on  Brewery,  llth  edition,  after 
enumerating  the  numerous  ingredients  for  brewing  porter,  p.  7,  he 
says :  "  However  much  they  may  surprise,  however  disagreeable  or 
pernicious  they  may  appear,  he  has  always  found  them  requisite  in 
brewing  porter,  and  he  thinks  they  must  be  invariably  used  by  those 
who  wish  to  continue  the  taste,  flavor  and  appearance  of  the  beer." 

Page  16 :  "  Though  acts  have  been  passed  to  prevent  porter  brew 
ers  from  using  many  of  them,  yet  the  author  can  affirm  from  expe 
rience  that  he  could  never  produce  the  present  flavored  porter 
without  them." 

Again  page  16 :  "  The  intoxicating  qualities  of  porter  are  to  be 
ascribed  to  the  various  drugs  intermixed  with  it.  It  is  evident  that 
some  porter  is  more  heady  than  others,  and  it  arises  from  the  greater 
or  less  quantity  of  stupefying  ingredients.  Malt,  to  produce  intoxi 
cation,  must  be  used  in  such  large  quantities  as  would  very  much 
diminish,  if  not  totally  exclude,  the  brewer's  profit." 

The  ingredients  mentioned  by  Child,  and  also  by  Maurice,  and  by 
the  author  of  the  "  Home  and  Country  Brewer,"  are  various  nar 
cotics  for  producing  stupefaction. 

Alum,  hops,  calamus,  cocculus  indicus,  coriander,  capsicum,  cara 
way  seed,  ginger,  gentian,  grains  of  paradise,  nux  vomica,  quassia, 
salt,  copperas,  tobacco,  opium,  lime,  soda,  &c. 

"  Jackson,  an  English  chemist,  of  notorious  memory,  first  fell  upon 
the  plan  of  brewing  from  various  drugs  ;  and  from  that  time  to  this 
there  have  been  various  written  directions,  and  receipt  books  for 
using  these  preparations.  And  agents  are  to  be  found  in  England 
who  sell  the  article  manufactured  for  brewers  only." — Accum  on 
Poisons,  117. 


48  TESTIMONY. 

the  use  in  Palestine,  of  certain  kinds  of  wine,  there 
were  even  in  Palestine,  certain  other  kinds  of  wine, 
of  which  it  did  not  authorize  the  use. 


"  To  give  beer  a  cauliflower  head,  beer  heading  is  used,  composed 
of  green  vitriol,  alum,  and  salt.  Alum  gives  likewise  a  smack  of 
age  to  beer,  and  is  penetrating  to  the  palate." — J.  Childs. 

Page  23 :  "  To  make  new  beer  older,  use  oil  of  vitriol." — J.  Cliilds. 

Page  163 :  "  Hops.  The  intense  bitter  some  hops  afford,  act  very 
injuriously  on  the  stomach;  it  is  a  fact  noticed  by  ancients  and 
moderns,  that  those  persons  who  accustom  themselves  to  intense 
bitters  generally  die  suddenly." — Journal  A.  T.  U.,pp.  18  and  19, 
for  1838. 

Accum  or  Culinary  Poisons,  Philadelphia,  1820,  p.  113,  says: 
"  Malt  liquor,  and  particularly  porter,  is  among  those  articles  in  the 
manufacture  of  which  the  greatest  frauds  are  committed." 

Page  115  :  "  Unwholesome  ingredients  are  used  by  fraudulent 
brewers,  and  very  deleterious  substances  are  also  vended  both  to 
brewers  and  retailers  for  adulterating  beer." 

Page  116  :  "  The  fraud  of  imparting  to  beer  and  ale  an  intoxicat 
ing  quality  by  narcotic  substances,  appears  to  have  flourished  in 
1806.  And  during  the  French  war  more  cocculus  indicus  was 
imported  in  five  years  than  had  been  before  in  the  course  of  twelve 
years." 

Page  134 :  "  Quassia  chips  are  used  as  a  substitute  for  hops. 
Vast  quantities  of  the  shavings  of  this  wood  are  sold  in  a  half  terri 
fied  and  ground  state,  to  disguise  its  obvious  character,  and  to  pre 
vent  its  being  recognized  among  the  waste  materials  of  the  brewers." 

Page  132 :  "  Wormwood  has  likewise  been  used  by  fraudulent 
brewers." 

Page  131 :  "  Green  vitriol,  alum,  and  salt  are  used  to  give  a  head 
to  beer.  And  the  retailers  frequently  adulterate  with  isinglass, 
molasses,  gentian  root,  and  mixing  beer  and  porter  together." 

Page  135:  "Capsicum  and  grains  of  paradise,  two  highly  acrid 
substances,  are  employed  to  give  a  pungent  taste  to  weak,  insipid 
beer.  Ginger  root,  coriander  seeds,  orange  peel,  &c.  It  will  be 
noticed  that  while  some  of  the  sophistications  are  comparatively 
harmless,  others  are  effected  by  substances  deleterious  to  health. 


TESTIMONY.  49 

But  we  cannot  enter  on  the  discussion  of  this  topic 
now.  It  must  remain  for  a  future  opportunity. 

In  the  meantime  let  us  reflect  on  what  has  already 
been  said,  and  so  far  as  truth  has  been  made  apparent 
reduce  the  same  to  practice. 


(  But  all  are  used  for  fraudulent  purposes  to  deceive  the  people  and 
cheat  them  out  of  their  money)." 

Page  148  :  After  mentioning  many  ways  of  sophistication,  he  says : 
"  To  make  the  beer  entire,  or  old,  the  brewers  now  need  none  of 
these,  for  by  an  admixture  of  sulphuric  acid,  it  is  done  in  an  instant/' 

Page  149  :  "  Alkaline  earth,  or  alkali  oyster  shell  powder,  and  sub- 
carbonate  of  potash,  are  used  to  make  sour,  stale  beer,  into  mild." 

Page  150  :  "  To  increase  the  intoxicating  qualities  of  beer,  cocculus 
indicus,  opium,  mix  vomica,  and  extract  of  poppies  are  used." — 
Journal  A.  T.  U.  1838,  j?.  50. 

The  effect  of  beer  drinking  corresponds  to  the  nature  of  the  article 
drank.  Says  Dr.  Gordon,  in  his  examination  before  alluded  to . 
"  The  mortality  among  the  coal  whippers  who  are  brought  to  the  Lon 
don  hospital  is  frightful.  The  moment  these  beer  drinkers  are 
attacked  with  any  acute  disease  they  are  unable  to  bear  depletion 
and  die  directly."  "  Medical  men,"  says  Dr.  Gordon,  "  are  familiar 
with  the  fact  that  confirmed  beer  drinkers  in  London  can  scarcely 
scratch  their  finger  without  risk  of  their  lives."  A  copious  London 
beer  drinker  is  all  one  vital  part.  He  wears  his  heart  on  his  sleeve, 
bare  to  a  death  wound  even  from  a  rusty  nail  or  the  claw  of  a  cat. 
Sir  Astley  Cooper,  on  one  occasion,  was  called  to  a  drayman  ( the 
draymen  have  the  unlimited  privilege  of  the  brewer's  cellar),  who 
had  suffered  an  injury  in  his  finger  from  a  small  splinter  of  a  stave. 
Suppuration  had  taken  place;  this  distinguished  surgeon  opened 
the  small  abscess  with  his  lancet.  Upon  retiring  he  found  he  had 
forgotten  his  lancet  case ;  on  returning  therefor  he  found  his  patient 
in  a  dying  state.  Every  medical  man  in  London,"  concludes  this 
writer,  "  dreads  above  all  things  a  beer  drinker  for  his  patient." 

NOTT.  5 


LECTUEE  No.  III. 


THE    BIBLE. 

The  kind  of  wine  in  question  —  The  authority  of  Scripture  —  Wine 
of  different  kinds,  good  and  bad  —  Spoken  of  by  sacred  writers  — 
Grape  juice  called  wine  —  Good  wine  —  Better  than  after  fermenta 
tion —  If  not  wine,  but  grape  juice  out  of  which  wine  is  made, 
and  called  wine  figuratively  —  Then  is  wine  not  commended,  but 
grape  juice  merely  —  The  wine  of  the  press  and  vat  in  Palestine 
slightly  fermented  —  What  is  meant  by  unfermented  wine  as  here 
used. 

HAVING  urged,  in  the  preceding  lecture,  the  discon 
tinuance  of  the  use  of  all  intoxicating  liquors  as  a 
beverage,  on  account  of  the  danger  which  attends 
such  use,  we  adverted  to  the  following  reply: 

"  Though  we  and  ours  make  use  of  intoxicating  liquors, 
they  are  fermented,  not  distilled  liquors.  Rum,  Gin, 
Brandy,  and  those  other  noxious  products  of  the  still, 
have  long  since  been  relinquished.  And  surely,  mere  malt 
liquor,  when  used  in  moderation,  cannot  injure  any  one  ; 
and  as  to  wine,  the  Bible  sanctioned  its  use  in  Palestine, 
and  still  sanctions  its  use." 

The  pertinence  and  sufficiency  of  this  reply  in 
relation  to  distilled  liquors,  and  in  relation  to  fer 
mented  liquors,  so  far  as  malt  liquors  are  concerned, 


THE    BIBLE.  51 

have  already  been  considered.  And  as  to  the  assump 
tion  concerning  wine,  we  have  said  : 

That  although  the  Bible  did  authorize  the  use  of  cer 
tain  wines  in  Palestine,  there  were  even  in  Palestine, 
certain  other  wines  of  which  it  did  not  authorize  the  use  ; 
and  this  position  is  what  now  remains  to  be  explained 
and  verified. 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  promulgate  or  defend  opin 
ions  contrary  to  the  announcements  of  the  Bible. 
The  Bible  is  at  once  the  unerring  standard  of  faith, 
as  well  as  the  authoritative  rule  of  life.  I  am  aware 
that  there  are  those  who  read,  nay,  who  study  the 
Bible,  who  are,  notwithstanding,  not  learners,  but 
teachers  of  both  faith  and  practice.  Men  who  bring 
their  wit  and  learning  and  taste  to  bear  authorita 
tively  on  that  sacred  volume,  and  who  sit,  and  dare 
to  sit  in  judgment  on  its  doctrines  and  on  its  pre 
cepts.  Not  so  the  true  disciple.  He  comes  to  the 
Bible,  as  to  an  authoritative  and  unerring  teacher, 
and  he  brings  along  with  him  an  enlightened  faith, 
and  a  subdued  understanding,  and  he  sits  down  to 
his  prescribed  task  with  the  docility  of  a  child,  and 
the  engagedness  of  a  learner.  He  pretends  not  to 
know,  beforehand,  what  will  be  its  counsel ;  much 
less  does  he  pretend  to  prescribe  what  it  ought  to  be. 
On  the  contrary,  he  attends  to  its  several  announce 
ments  as  so  many  oracles  from  heaven,  and  surrender 
ing  all  his  pride  and  all  his  prepossessions  says  from 
the  bottom  of  his  heart,  as  he  turns  its  hallowed 
pages:  "Speak  Lord,  for  thy  servant  heareth." 


52  SUPPOSED    SANCTION. 

We  may  err  in  our  interpretations  of  the  language 
of  the  Bible,  but  the  Bible  itself  never  errs;  and  in 
nothing,  as  is  believed,  has  its  import  been  more 
misapprehended  than  in  the  countenance  it  has  some 
times  been  supposed  to  give  to  the  use  of  intoxicating 
liquors  as  a  beverage.  This  supposed  license  has 
arrayed  many  good  men  on  the  side  of  the  moderate 
use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  but  against  total  absti 
nence  ;  because  total  abstinence,  as  sometimes  taught, 
has  appeared  to  them  not  in  accordance  with  the 
teachings  of  the  Bible,  for  which  they  entertain  so 
profound  and  so  becoming  a  reverence  —  a  reverence 
too  seldom  met  with,  and  which  cannot  be  too  highly 
commended — a  reverence  to  be  regarded  as  favorable, 
and  not  adverse  to  the  ultimate  and  abiding  triumph 
of  the  temperance  reformation.  For  those  men 
who,  having  carried  forward  this  reformation  on  the 
acknowledged  principles  of  the  Bible,  up  to  the  limit 
believed  by  them  to  be  prescribed  by  the  Bible,  refuse 
to  advance  beyond  that  limit,  are  the  men  on  whom, 
during  the  fluctuation  of  a  fickle  and  changeful  pub 
lic  opinion,  reliance  may  most  confidently  be  placed 
for  the  permanent  maintenance  of  total  abstinence, 
if  it  shall  eventually  be  made  to  appear  that  the 
Bible  sanctions  such  abstinence  —  as  made  to  appear 
it  will  be — if,  indeed,  it  does  sanction  it. 

Truth  is  mighty,  and  where  free  discussion  is 
allowed,  will,  despite  even  of  the  errors  of  its  advo 
cates,  ultimately  prevail.  Nor  has  anything  hitherto 
contributed  so  much  to  alarm  the  fears  and  combine 
the  influence  of  these  revered  and  wakeful  conserva- 


IS   THE   BIBLE    INCONSISTENT?  53 

tors  of  the  moralities  of  our  religion,  as  the  occasional 
enforcement  of  total  abstinence,  on  principles  rather 
infidel  than  Christian,  and  with  an  apparent  design  to 
compel  acquiescence,  whether  the  Bible  should  be 
found  to  sanction  such  abstinence  or  not. 

But  if  the  ultimate  appeal  for  the  decision  of  the 
question  is  to  the  Bible,  how  can  it  be  considered 
any  longer  an  open  question ;  for  in  that  case  what 
room  is  there  even  for  debate  ? 

Is  it  to  be  denied  that  wine  is  spoken  of  in  the 
Bible,  in  terms  of  commendation  ;  that  it  is  employed 
as  a  symbol  of  mercy ;  that  it  was  offered  in  sacri 
fice  ;  that  it  was  distributed  to  the  guests  at  the 
passover ;  at  the  supper  of  our  Lord,  and  at  the  mar 
riage  in  Cana  of  Galilee?  No,  this  is  riot  to  be 
denied.  As  little,  however,  is  it  to  be  denied,  that 
it  is  also  spoken  of  in  terms  of  reprobation  ;  that  it 
is  employed  as  a  symbol  of  wrath,  forbidden  to  Naz- 
arites,  forbidden  to  Kings  :  that  to  look  upon  it,  even, 
is  forbidden,  and  that  it  is  declared  that  they  who 
are  deceived  thereby  are  not  wise. 

What  shall  we  say  to  this  ?  Can  the  same  thing  in 
the  same  state  be  good  and  bad,  a  symbol  of  wrath., 
a  symbol  of  mercy,  a  thing  to  be  sought  after,  and  a 
thing  to  be  avoided  ?  Certainly  not ! 

And  is  the  Bible  then  inconsistent  with  itself? 
No,  it  is  not,  and  this  seeming  inconsistency  will 
vanish,  and  the  Bible  will  be  not  only,  but  will 
appear  to  be  in  harmony  with  itself,  in  harmony  with 
history,  with  science,  and  with  the  providence  of 
God,  if,  on  examination,  it  shall  be  found  that  the 
NOTT.  *5 


54  WINE,    A    GENERIC   TERM. 

kinds  or  states  of  vinous  beverage  referred  to,  under  the 
name  of  wine,  were  as  unlike  in  their  nature  or 
effects,  as  were  those  mercies  and  judgments  for 
which  the  same  were  respectively  employed  as  sym 
bols,  or  as  were  those  terms  of  praise  or  dispraise  by 
which  the  same  were  respectively  indicated. 

No  less  than  nine  words  are  employed  in  the 
Hebrew  Bible  to  express  the  different  kinds  of  vinous 
beverage  formerly  in  use  ;  all  of  which  kinds  of  beve 
rage  are  expressed  in  our  English  version  by  the 
single  term  "  WINE,"  or  by  that  term  in  connection 
with  some  other  term  expressive  of  quality.* 

The  term  wine,  therefore,  as  used  in  our  English 
Bible,  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  generic  term ;  compre 
hending  different  kinds  of  beverage,  and  of  very 
different  qualities ;  some  of  which  kinds  were  good, 
some  bad ;  some  to  be  used  frequently  and  freely, 
some  seldom  and  sparingly ;  and  some  to  be  utterly 
and  at  all  times  avoided. 

By  a  mere  comparison  of  the  passages  in  which 
the  term  wine  occurs,  this  will  be  rendered  probable. 


*  These  terms  are,  Yayin,  a  generic  term,  comprehending  wine 
of  all  kinds.  Tirosh,  also  a  generic  term,  denoting  the  fruit  of  the 
vine  in  the  cluster,  the  press  and  the  vat,  cither  in  the  solid  form  of 
grapes,  or  of  grape-juice  expressed,  (i.  e.)  new  wine.  Ausis,  the 
fresh  juice  of  the  grape,  and  even  of  other  fruit.  Sobhe,  inspissated 
wine,  corresponding  to  the  Latin  sapa,  or  the  Greek  sireaum  and 
hepsema.  Ifamar,  unmingled  wine,  wine  red,  thick,  turbid. 
Mesech,  mixed  wine  ;  whether  with  water  or  with  drugs.  Shemarin, 
lees  of  wine,  and  sometimes  preserves  or  jellies.  JSshisha,  cooked 
wine,  or  grape  cake.  Shechar,  sweet  drink,  from  the  palm  or  other 
trees,  but  not  from  the  vine. 


DIFFERENT    SORTS    OF   WINE.  55 

For  it  were  difficult  to  believe  that  the  wine  by 
which  Noah  was  dishonored ;  by  wrhich  Lot  was 
defiled ;  the  wine  wThich  caused  prophets  to  err  in 
judgment,  and  priests  to  stumble  and  fall ;  the  wine 
which  occasions  wo  and  sorrow,  and  wounds  without 
cause ;  wine  of  which  he  who  is  deceived  thereby,  is  not 
wise ;  wine  which  Solomon  styles  a  mocker,  and 
which  is  alluded  to  by  One  who  is  greater  than  Solo 
mon,  as  a  symbol  of  wrath ;  it  were  difficult  to 
believe  that  this  wine — the  wine  mingled  by  harlots, 
and  sought  by  libertines,  was  THE  VERY  WINE  which 
wisdom  mingles ;  to  which  wisdom  invites ;  wine 
which  priests  offered  in  sacrifice ;  evangelists  dis 
pensed  at  communion-tables,  and  which,  making 
glad  the  heart  of  man,  was  a  fit  emblem  of  the  mer 
cies  of  God. 

There  is  a  wine  of  some  sort  spoken  of  very  fre 
quently  in  the  Bible,  with  express  disapprobation, 
or  in  connection  with  drunken  feasts,  or  as  an  em 
blem  of  temporal  and  eternal  judgment.  And  there 
is  also  a  wine  spoken  of  perhaps  as  frequently  with 
express  approbation,  or  in  connection  writh  religious 
festivals,  or  as  an  emblem  of  temporal  and  eternal 
blessings. 

That  wines  of  such  different  qualities,  and  pre 
sented  in  such  different  aspects  and  even  in  such 
frequent  and  frightful  contrast,  were  one  and  the 
same  article,  in  one  and  the  same  state,  would  seem, 
even  though  histoiy,  both  sacred  and  profane,  had 
been  silent,  quite  incredible.  How  much  more  so 
now,  that  in  place  of  silence,  history,  both  sacred 


56     TEXTS   IN   WHICH    GOOD    WINE    IS    SPOKEN    OF. 

and  profane,  hath  spoken ;  and  spoken,  not  of  their 
identity,  but  known  and  marked  dissimilarity. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  the  Bible  makes  a  dis 
tinction  in  the  kinds  of  wine  of  which  it  speaks.  I 
allude  not  to  wine  as  medicine,  but  as  beverage. 
Wine  as  beverage,  was,  in  the  language  of  the  Bible, 
either  good  or  bad. 

By  good  wine,  I  mean  wine  that  in  the  use  is 
beneficial  to  the  bodies  or  the  souls  of  men.  By  bad 
wine,  I  mean  wine  which  is  injurious  to  the  one  or 
the  other,  or  both.  Wine  which  (when  used,  not 
excessively,  but  moderately  as  beverage)  is  injurious 
either  to  the  physical,  intellectual  or  moral  consti 
tution  of  man,  is  bad  wine.  It  is  with  this  distinc 
tion  between  wines  that  this  discussion  is  concerned — 
a  distinction,  recognized  in  those  terms  of  praise  or 
dispraise  in  which  the  Bible  speaks  of  or  alludes  to 
different  kinds  of  wine,  as  either  actually  existing  in 
the  concrete,  or  as  assumed  to  exist  in  the  abstract. 
The  truth  of  this  will  be  apparent,  by  a  comparison 
(in  the  subjoined  schedule)  of  a  few  out  of  many 
passages  that  might  have  been  selected. 

TEXTS  IN  WHICH  GOOD  WINE  IS  SPOKEN  OF,  OR 
ALLUDED  TO. 

Gen.,  xxvii.,  28  :  "  Therefore  God  give  thee  of  the 
dew  of  heaven,  and  the  fatness  of  the  earth,  and 
plenty  of  corn,  and  (tirosh)  wine." 

Num.,  xxviii.,  12  :  "  All  the  best  of  the  oil,  and  all 
the  best  of  the  (tirosh)  wine,  and  of  the  wheat,  first 


TEXTS   IN   WHICH   GOOD   WINE   IS    SPOKEN   OF.     57 

fruits  of  them  which  they  shall  offer  unto  the  Lord, 
them  have  I  given  thee." 

Deut.,  xiv.,  24,  25,  26 :  "  And  if  the  way  be  too 
long  for  thee,  then  thou  shalt  turn  it  into  money,  and 
thou  shalt  bestow  that  money  for  whatsoever  thy 
soul  lusteth  after,  for  oxen,  or  for  sheep,  or  for  (yayin) 
wine." 

Psalm  civ.,  15  :  "  And  (yayin)  wine  that  maketh 
glad  the  heart  of  man,  and  oil  to  make  his  face  to 
shine,  and  bread  which  strengthened  man's  heart." 

Zech.,  ix.,  17  :  "  Corn  shall  make  the  young  men 
cheerful,  and  (tirosh)  new  wine  the  maids." 

Prov.,  ix.,  1,  4,  5  :  "  Wisdom  hath  killed  her  beasts  ; 
she  hath  mingled  her  wine  (yayin) ;  she  saith,  come 
eat  of  my  bread,  and  drink  of  the  (yayin)  wine  I  have 
mingled." 

Cant,  v.,  1 :  "I  have  drunk  my  (yayin)  wine  with 
my  milk ;  eat  O  friends ;  drink ;  yea,  drink  abun 
dantly,  0  beloved." 

Isaiah,  xxvii.,  2  :  "In  that  day  sing  you  unto  her,  a 
vineyard  of  red  (yayin)  wine.  I,  the  Lord,  do  keep 
it.  I  will  water  it  every  moment,  lest  any  hurt  it. 
I  will  keep  it  night  and  day." 

Gen.,  xlix.,  11:  "  He  washeth  his  garments  in 
(yayin)  wine,  and  his  clothes  in  the  blood  of  grapes. 

Gen.,  xlviii.,  33 :  "I  have  caused  (yayin)  to  fall 
from  the  wine  press,  none  shall  tread  with  shouting." 

Deut.,  vii.,  13  :  "  He  will  love  thee  and  bless  thee ; 
and  bless  the  fruit  of  thy  land;  thy  corn  and  thy 
(tirosh)  wine." 


58      TEXTS   IN   WHICH   BAD   WINE   IS   SPOKEN   OF. 

Luke,  xxii.,  18 :  "  For  I  say  unto  you,  I  will  not 
drink  of  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  till  the  kingdom  of 
God  shall  come." 

Mark,  xiv.,  25 :  "  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  I  will 
drink  no  more  of  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  until  that  day 
that  I  shall  drink  it  new  in  the  kingdom  of  God." 

1  Cor.,  x.,  16  :  The  cup  of  blessing  which  we  bless, 
is  it  not  the  communion  of  the  blood  of  Christ  ?" 

Isaiah,  Ixv.,  8  :  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  as  the  (tirosh) 
new  wine  is  found  in  the  cluster,  and  one  saith,  des 
troy  it  not,  for  a  blessing  is  in  it,  so  will  I  do  for  my 
servants." 

TEXTS  IN  WHICH  BAD  WINE  IS  SPOKEN  OF,   OR 
ALLUDED  TO. 

Deut.,  xxxii.,  33 :  "  For  their  vine  is  the  vine  of 
Sodom,  and  of  the  fields  of  Gomorrah.  Their  (yayw) 
wine  is  the  poison  of  dragons,  and  the  cruel  venom 
of  asps." 

Amos,  ii.,  6,  8 :  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  for  three 
transgressions  of  Israel,  and  for  four,  I  will  not  turn 
away  the  punishment  thereof.  Because,  *  *  * 
they  lay  themselves  down  upon  clothes  laid  to  pledge 
upon  every  altar,  and  drink  the  (yayin)  wine  of  the 
condemned  in  the  house  of  their  God." 

Mark,  xv.,  23  :  "  And  they  gave  him  to  drink  (oinon) 
wine  mingled  with  myrrh  ;  but  he  received  it  not." 

Prov.,  xxiii.,  20,  30,  31,  32  :  "  Who  hath  woe  ;  who 
hath  sorrow ;  who  hath  contention ;  who  hath  bab 
bling  ;  who  hath  wounds  without  cause ;  who  hath 
redness  of  eyes  ?  They  that  tarry  long  at  the  (yayin) 


BAD   WINE.  59 

wine  ;  they  that  go  to  seek  (mesech)  mixed  wine  ;  look 
not  thou  upon  the  (yayin)  wine  when  it  is  red  ;  when 
it  giveth  his  color  in  the  cup  ;  when  it  moveth  itself 
aright.  At  the  last,  it  biteth  like  a  serpent,  and 
stingeth  like  an  adder." 

Isaiah,  v.,  22  :  "  Woe  unto  them  that  are  mighty  to 
drink  (yayin)  wine,  and  men  of  strength  to  mingle 
strong  drink." 

Prov.,  xxiii.,  30  :  "  Look  thou  not  upon  the  (yayin) 
wine  when  it  is  red ;  when  it  giveth  his  color  in  the 
cup,  when  it  moveth  itself  aright." 

Psalm  Ixxv.,  8  :  "In  the  hand  of  the  Lord  there  is 
a  cup,  and  the  (yayin)  wine  is  red ;  it  is  full  of  mix 
ture,  and  he  poureth  out  the  same,  hut  the  dregs 
thereof,  all  the  wicked  of  the  earth  shall  wring  them 
out,  and  drink  them." 

Psalm  lx.,  3  :  "  Thou  hast  showed  thy  people  hard 
things ;  thou  hast  made  us  drink  the  (yayin)  wine  of 
astonishment." 

Jer.,  li.,  7  :  "  The  nations  have  drunk  of  her  (yayin) 
wine,  therefore  the  nations  are  mad." 

Rev.,  xiv.,  10  :  "  The  same  shall  drink  of  the  (0^0?*) 
wine  of  the  wrath  of  God,  which  is  poured  out  with 
out  mixture  into  the  cup  of  his  indignation." 

Jer.,  xxv.,  15  :  "  For  thus  saith  the  Lord  *  *  take 
the  (yayin)  wine  cup  of  this  fury  at  my  hand,  and 
cause  all  the  nations  to  whom  I  send  thee,  to 
drink  it." 

Prov.,  xx.,  1 :  "  (Yayin)  wine  is  a  mocker,  (shechar) 
strong  drink  is  raging,  and  whosoever  is  deceived 
thereby  is  not  wise." 


60  DISTINCTION   BETWEEN   WINES. 

The  above  are  samples  merely  of  passages  (which 
might  if  necessary  be  extended)  in  which  wines  are 
distinguished,  according  to  their  qualities,  among 
which  are  good  and  bad  ;  wine,  that  is  a  blessing,  and 
wine,  a  curse  ;  wine,  to  be  presented  at  sacrifice,  and 
wine,  that  might  not  be  drank  in  the  house  of  the 
Lord;  wine,  occasioning  joy  and  gladness,  and  wine, 
occasioning  woe  and  sorrow ;  wine,  of  which  guests 
were  to  drink  abundantly,  and  wine,  not  to  be  drank 
at  all ;  wine,  the  emblem  of  heavenly  joy,  and  wine, 
the  symbol  of  endless  misery ;  red  wine,  the  especial 
care  of  the  Almighty ;  and  red  wine,  that  might  not 
be  looked  upon ;  wine,  signifying  the  blood  of 
Christ,  and  wine,  a  mocker. 

In  the  view  of  these  texts,  and  texts  like  tnese, 
though  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  different  kinds  of 
wine  exist  now,  who  could  doubt  of  their  existence 
formerly,  or  question  whether  wines  presented  in  such 
frequent  and  fearful  contrast,  or  referred  to  respec 
tively  in  such  marked  terms  of  praise  or  dispraise, 
were  not,  after  all,  one  and  the  same  article,  in  the 
same  state? 

Here  then,  on  this  broad  distinction  between  good 
and  bad  wine,  recognized  in  the  sacred  writings,  we 
take  our  stand.  And  be  it  remembered,  it  is  not 
against  the  moderate  use  (in  ordinary  times)  of  good, 
healthful  wine,  which  the  Bible  sanctions  and 
employs  as  an  emblem  of  mercy,  but  against  the  use 
of  bad,  deleterious  wine  which  the  Bible  reprobates 
and  employs  as  an  emblem  of  wrath,  that  we  array 
ourselves. 


GEEAT   NUMBER    OF   VARIETIES.  61 

The  wine,  and  the  only  wine  that  we  abjure,  is 
wine  abjured  by  the  Bible,  abjured  by  reason  ;  wine, 
which  in  the  use  as  a  beverage,  enervates  and  diseases 
the  body,  depraves  and  crazes  the  mind,  and  exerts 
over  the  whole  man  a  morbid  and  a  mortal  influence  ; 
in  one  word,  wine  containing  POISON  not  only,  but 
containing  it  in  sufficient  quantity,  also,  when  used 
as  beverage,  to  disturb  the  healthy  action  of  the  sys 
tem  :  arid  such  are  the  wines  generally  in  use  in  this 
country.  Nor  is  it  material  to  the  question  now  at 
issue  whether  that  poison  be  generated  in  the  juice 
of  the  grape  by  fermentation,  or  superadded  by 
drugging. 

Wine  in  which  poison  is  contained  in  the  quantity 
and  intensity  indicated,  no  matter  how  generated  or 
whence  derived,  will  be  found  to  receive  as  little 
advocacy  from  revelation  as  reason ;  nor  will  the 
drinker  of  such,  wine  (as  the  light  of  truth  advances) 
be  able  ultimately  to  find  protection  under  the  mere 
shelter  of  a  name. 

That  the  term  wine  is  always  used,  either  by  sacred 
or  profane  writers,  to  indicate  the  same  beverage  or 
to  indicate  the  beverage  for  which  we  now  use  it,  is 
an  error  which  cannot  fail,  on  full  examination,  to  be 
corrected. 

Pliny,  who  was  cotemporary  with  the  apostles, 
says  (Lib.  xiv.,  chap.  22),  as  we  have  already  seen, 
"  that  the  ingenuity  of  man  had  produced  ninety-five 
different  kinds  of  wine ;  and  if  the  species  of  these 
genera  were  enumerated,  they  would  amount  to 
almost  double  that  number." 

NOTT.  6 


62  INTOXICATING   WINE,    DEFINITION    OF. 

Virgil,  who  lived  about  the  same  time,  having  enu 
merated  several  kinds  of  wine  then  in  use,  sums  up 
what  he  had  to  say,  by  declaring  the  residue  innu 
merable.  Nor  does  the  fact  in  question  depend  on 
the  testimony  of  Pliny  and  Virgil  only.  Horace, 
Cato,  Columella,  Plutarch,  and  many  other  ancient 
writers,  have  confirmed  what  Pliny  and  Virgil  stated. 
They  enumerated  a  great  variety  of  wines,  and  even 
furnish  recipes  for  making  very  many  of  the  varieties 
enumerated.  Among  which  varieties  are  wine  made 
from  millet,  dates,  and  the  lotus  tree ;  from  figs, 
beans,  pears,  all  sorts  of  apples,  mulberries,  pine 
apples  ;  the  leaves,  berries  and  twigs  of  myrtle  ;  from 
rue,  asparagus,  savory,  &c.  Spiced  and  aromatic 
wines,  made  from  a  composition  of  spices,  from  myrrh, 
Celtic  nard,  bitumen.  (Pliny,  chap.  16,  book  xiv.) 

Of  the  different  kinds  of  wine  formerly  in  use, 
some  were  medicinal,  nutritive ;  some  refreshing, 
exhilirating ;  some  stupefactive,  and  some  intoxica 
ting. 

By  intoxicating  wine,  as  used  in  this  discussion,  is 
meant  not  merely  wine  containing  poison,  but  containing 
it  in  sufficient  quantity  and  intensity,  when  used  as  Leve 
rage,  to  poison  those  who  use  it. 

By  poison,  I  mean  anything  which  injures  the 
organism,  interrupts  its  healthy  action,  producing 
local  or  general  derangement  in  the  system,  and 
which,  if  taken  in  quantities  sufficiently  large,  or  in 
smaller  quantities  sufficiently  long,  will  impair  the 
reason,  impair  the  health,  and  even  extinguish  life 
itself. 


FERMENTATION.  63 

All  this  intoxicating  liquors  will  do :  what  more 
can  be  said  of  arsenic,  or  even  prussic  acid  ? 

Not  to  mention  remote  effects,  intoxicating  liquors 
operate  with  sudden  and  mighty  energy  on  the  whole 
vascular  and  nervous  system,  and  especially  on  the 
brain,  exciting  usually  to  folly,  often  to  madness, 
sometimes  even  to  death. 

The  poison  contained  in  intoxicating  liquors  is 
either  generated  in  the  liquors  by  fermentation,  or 
superadded  by  drugging. 

FERMENTATION  is  a  chemical  process,  of  which 
there  are  several  kinds,  to  wit :  the  vinous,  the  ace 
tous,  and  the  putrefactive. 

The  elements  of  fermentation  are  saccharine  matter, 
barm  or  yeast. 

The  conditions  of  fermentation  are  contact,  fluidity 
and  temperature.  The  degree  of  temperature  requi 
site  for  vinous  fermentation  is  from  sixty  to  seventy 
or  seventy-five  degrees  Fahrenheit. 

If  the  temperature  be  increased,  acetous  fermenta 
tion  follows  the  vinous. 

Grapes  and  apples,  as  well  as  certain  other  vege 
table  productions,  contain  the  elements  of  fermenta 
tion  in  the  requisite  proportion  to  secure  the  process, 
provided  the  requisite  fluidity,  contact  and  tempera 
ture  exist. 

The  vinous  fermentation,  with  which  this  discus 
sion  is  principally  concerned,  generates  alcohol,  one 
of  the  most  virulent  poisons,  and  a  poison  contained 
in  many  if  not  most,  of  the  intoxicating  liquors  now 
in  use. 


64  DISTILLATION  —  DRUGGING  —  HOMER. 

DISTILLATION  is  a  modern  art,  and  the  difference 
between  fermented  and  distilled  liquors  consists  in 
this :  that  in  the  former,  a  portion,  though  a  very 
small  portion,  of  solid  vegetable  matter  is  held  in 
solution  in  the  alcohol  and  water ;  whereas  in  the 
latter  alcohol  and  water  exist  alone. 

Alcohol,  however,  is  not  the  only  poison  con 
tained  in  intoxicating  liquors ;  others  are  added  by 
drugging. 

DRUGGING  is  an  artificial  process,  by  which  foreign 
ingredients  of  any  kind  and  in  any  quantity  are 
added  to  liquors  at  pleasure. 

Pliny  affirms  that  calamus  and  ground  oak,  together 
with  numerous  other  ingredients,  were  added  to  the 
juice  of  the  grape,  to  render  it  aromatic,  medicinal, 
or  stupefying.  (Book  xiv.,  chap.  16.) 

Homer,  who  lived  long  before  the  Christian  era, 
frequently  mentions  the  potent  drugs  mingled  with 
wine  in  those  early  times. 

The  potion  which  Helen  prepared  for  Telemachus 
and  his  companions  was  at  once  soothing  and  stupe- 
factive.  To  impart  these  qualities,  he  says  "she 
mingled  in  her  wine  delirious  drugs  of  power  to 
assuage  grief,  to  allay  rage,  and  to  become  the  obli 
vious  antidote  of  misfortune."  Elsewhere  he  says, 
that  Ulysses  took  in  his  boat  "  a  goat-skin  of  sweet 
black  wine,  a  divine  drink,  which  Maron,  Apollo's 
priest,  had  given  him,  a  beverage  that  was  as  sweet 
as  honey,  that  was  imperishable,  that  when  drank 
was  diluted  with  twenty  parts  water,  and  that  from 
it  a  sweet  and  divine  odor  exhaled." 


VLINY THE    HEBREWS.  65 

Says  Pliny  (Lib.  xiv.,  chap.  5),  "  Androcydes,  a 
physician  renowned  for  wisdom,  addressing  Alexan 
der,  said,  '  0  King !  remember  that  when  you  are 
about  to  drink  the  blood  of  the  earth,  hemlock  is 
poison  to  man,  and  wine  is  hemlock.'  " 

Nor  was  this  process  of  drugging  confined  to 
ancient  Pagan  nations.  Says  Bishop  Lowth,  on 
Isaiah,  i,  22  :  "  the  Hebrews  generally,  by  mixed  wine, 
mean  wine  made  inebriating  by  the  adoption  of 
higher  and  more  powerful  ingredients,  such  as  spices, 
myrrh,  mandragora,  opiates,  and  other  strong  drugs. 
Such  were  the  exhilirating  or  rather  stupefying  ingre 
dients  which  Helen  mixed  in  the  bowl  together  with 
the  wine  for  her  guests,  oppressed  with  grief,  to  raise 
their  spirits,  the  composition  of  which  she  had 
learned  from  Egypt." 

Thus  the  drunkard  is  described,  as  one  who  seeks 
"  mixed  wine,"  and  is  "  mighty  to  mingle  strong 
drink." 

And  hence  the  Psalmist  took  the  highly  poetical 
and  sublime  image  of  the  cup  of  God's  wrath,  called 
by  Isaiah  "the  cup  of  trembling,"  causing  intoxica 
tion  and  stupefaction,  containing,  as  St.  John  (Rev., 
xiv.,  10,)  expresses  in  Greek,  the  Hebrew  idea  with 
the  utmost  precision,  though  with  a  seeming  contra 
diction  in  the  terms  "  Jcekerasmenon  dkraton"  mixed, 
unmixed  wine.  "  In  the  hand  of  Jehovah,"  saith  the 
Psalmist,  Psalm  Ixxv.,  8,  "  there  is  a  cup,  the  wine 
is  turbid,  it  is  full  of  mixed  liquor,  he  poureth  out  of 
it.  Verily  the  dregs  thereof  (the  thickest  sedi 
ment  of  the  strong  ingredients  merged  in  it),  all  the 

NOTT.  *6 


66  MIXED   WINE    GIVEN   TO    MALEFACTORS. 

ungodly  of  the  earth  shall  wring  them  out  and  drink 
them." 

Stupefying  wines  were  given  by  the  ancients  to 
condemned  criminals,  to  render  them  less  sensible  to 
the  agonies  of  death.  Of  such  wine,  it  was  not 
allowable  for  Israelites  in  their  solemn  assemblies  to 
drink ;  an  offence  with  which  they  are  reproached. 
Amos,  ii,  8 :  "  they  lay  themselves  down  upon  clothes 
laid  to  pledge  by  every  altar,  and  they  drink  the 
wine  of  the  condemned  in  the  house  of  their  God." 

Dr.  A.  Clark,  in  his  commentary,  says:  "  Inebriat 
ing  drinks  were  given  to  condemned  prisoners,  to 
render  them  less  sensible  to  the  torture  they  endured 
when  dying."  This  custom  is  alluded  to  in  Proverbs, 
xxxi.,  6  :  "  Give  strong  drink  to  him  that  is  ready  to 
perish,"  i.  e.,  who  is  condemned  to  death,  "  and 
wine  to  him  who  is  bitter  of  soul,  because  he  is  just 
going  to  suffer  the  punishment  of  death ;"  and  thus 
the  Rabbins  understand  it. 

It  is  asserted  in  the  Talmud  that  this  drink  con 
sisted  of  wine  mixed  with  frankincense,  and  was 
given  to  criminals  immediately  before  execution.  It 
is  moreover  recorded  of  our  Savior,  that  "  they  gave 
him  to  drink  wine  mingled  with  myrrh,  but  he 
received  it  not."  Allusion  is  made  to  these  mixed 
wines  in  Lam.,  iii.,  15  :"  He  hath  filled  me  with  bit 
terness,  he  hath  made  me  drunken  with  wormwood." 
In  Psalm  Ixxv.,  8,  it  is  said  that  "  In  the  hand  of 
the  Lord  is  a  cup,  and  the  wine  is  red,  it  is  full  of 
mixture."  Isaiah  speaks  of  "  a  cup  of  trembling  and 
giddiness."  In  Proverbs  we  read  of  "  mixed  wine"  of 


WINES   MIXED BIBLE    INJUNCTIONS.  67 

soporific  wines,  of  which  kings  might  not  drink,  lest 
they  should  "  forget  the  law  ;"  the  same  to  be  given, 
as  above  stated,  to  those  of  a  heavy  heart,  that  they 
might  forget  their  sorrows. 

Thus  apparent  is  it  that  foreign  ingredients  were 
formerly  added  to  wines  to  render  them  intoxicating, 
many  of  which  were  the  most  potent  poisons.  And 
it  is  also  apparent  that  these  were  wines  disapproved 
of  by  the  Bible,  and  in  reference  to  which,  not  tem 
perance,  but  abstinence,  total,  perpetual  abstinence, 
was  enjoined. 

Now,  were  these  wines  repudiated  because  they 
were  mixed,  or  because  they  were  bad,  soporific, 
oblivious,  stupefactive  ?  Not  the  former,  surely,  for 
there  were  mixed  wines  deemed  worthy  of  commen 
dation,  and  such  were  wines  mingled  by  wisdom  for 
her  guests.  And  if  the  latter,  then  deleterious  wine, 
irrespective  of  the  manner  in  which  it  has  been  ren 
dered  deleterious,  is  in  effect  repudiated  by  the  Bible. 
But  wine  containing  poison  in  sufficient  quantity  to 
produce  intoxication,  when  used  as  beverage,  is  dele 
terious  wine,  and  ought  not,  therefore,  on  Bible  prin 
ciples,  to  be  so  used. 

However  becoming  and  even  obligatory  total 
abstinence  from  all  vinous  beverage,  at  a  time  like 
the  present,  and  in  a  country  where  its  use  and  the 
use  of  kindred  stimulants  has  been  carried  to  such 
criminal  excess,  it  is  not  to  be  understood  that,  under 
other  circumstances,  in  other  times,  good  nutritious 
imintoxicating  wine  might  not  be  temperately  drank 
with  innocence. 


68  BLOOD    OF   THE    GRAPE. 

But  is  there  any  such  wine  ?  There  is ;  for  such 
is  ever  the  fruit  of  the  vine  in  its  original  state. 

o 

THAT  THE  FRUIT  OF  THE  VINE,  IN  THE  FORM  OF 
GRAPE  JUICE  AS  EXPRESSED  FROM  THE  CLUSTER, 
HAS  BEEN  FROM  REMOTE  ANTIQUITY  AND  STILL  IS 
USED  AS  A  BEVERAGE,  IS  ABUNDANTLY  IN  PROOF. 

Of  Graal  and  his  brethren,  it  is  said  (Judges,  ix.,  27) 
that  "they  went  out  into  the  field  and  gathered  in 
their  grapes,  and  did  eat  and  drink."  Of  what  did 
Graal  and  his  brethren  eat  and  drink  ?  Doubtless,  as 
the  text  intimates,  of  the  grapes  which  they  had  gath 
ered.  For,  be  it  remembered,  grapes  furnish  to  those 
who  cultivate  them,  both  food  and  drink. 

In  connection  with  the  blessings  conferred  on  Jacob 
(among  which  are  honey,  oil,  butter,  milk,  &c.),  it  is 
said  (Deut.,  xxxii.,  14,)  that  he  drank  ("dham  gnenabh 
hhamer")  the  pure  blood  of  the  grape.  In  the  Vulgate 
this  is  translated  ("et  sanguinem  uvce  bibisti  merum"  in 
the  Septuaguint  "oinon")  "and  the  blood  of  the  grape 
thou  didst  drink  wine ;"  and  Dr.  A.  Clarke  says  that 
"blood,"  as  used  here,  is  synonymous  with  "juice" 
The  allusion  probably  was  to  the  simple  must  of  red 
grapes — the  most  approved  grapes.  Among  the 
principal  things  enumerated  as  needful  to  man,  are 
"water,  flour,  honey,  milk,  and  the  blood  of  the  grape," 
meaning,  in  the  language  of  the  ancients,  grape-juice. 
That  the  ancients  thus  understood  the  terms,  there 
can  be  no  doubt.  In  the  Apocrypha  (1  Mac.,  vi.,  34) 
it  is  written:  "and  to  the  end  that  they  might  pro 
voke  the  elephants  to  fight,  they  showed  them  the 


EXHUMED    BACCHUS. 


69 


blood  of  grapes  and  mulberries;"  and  in  Ecclesias- 
ticus  (xv.),  "  and  finishing  the  service  of  the  altar,  that 
he  (high  priest)  might  adorn  the  offering  of  the  Most 
High,  he  stretched  out  his  hand  to  the  cup  and 
poured  of  the  blood  of  the  grape." 

It  is  a  recorded  fact  that,   in  remote  antiquity, 
grapes  were  brought  to  the  table  and  the  juice  there 


expressed  for  immediate  use.     An  instance  occurs  in 
Pharaoh's   cup-bearer;   the  recently  exhumed  Bac- 


70  FRESH   GRAPE  JUICE  —  AUTHORITY. 

chus,  holding  a  bunch  of  grapes  in  his  hand  and 
pressing  the  juice  into  the  vase,  standing  on  a  pedes 
tal,  is  in  evidence  of  the  existence  of  such  a  usage.* 

In  keeping  with  the  office  here  asssigned  to  the 
reputed  inventor  of  wine,  is  a  scene  described  between 
him  and  a  Tyrian  shepherd  (Achilles  Tatius,  lib.  xi., 
chap.  ii).  Bacchus  having  been  hospitably  entertained 
by  this  shepherd  with  food  and  water,  presented  him 
in  return  with  a  cup  filled  with  fresh  grape  juice  ;  on 
tasting  which,  the  shepherd  exclaimed,  "Whence, 
my  guest,  have  you  this  purple  water,  or  where  in 
the  world  have  you  so  sweet  a  blood?  It  surely  is 
not  from  that  which  flows  through  the  land!  Water 
affects  (goes  into)  the  breast  with  little  pleasure ;  this, 
however,  applied  to  the  mouth,  gratifies  the  nostrils, 
and  though  it  be  cold  to  the  touch,  yet  when  it  is 
imbibed,  it  raises  throughout  an  agreeable  warmth." 
Bacchus  replied,  "This  autumnal  water  (alluding  to 
the  period  when  grapes  were  ripe)  and  blood  flows 
out  of  branches ;"  and  having  led  the  shepherd  to  a 
vine  (and  pointed  to  the  pendent  clusters),  he  said, 
"this  is  the  water,  but  these  are  the  fountains." 

"  Grapes"  (says  Sir  Edward  Barry,  speaking  of 
the  ancients),  "  became  at  first  a  usual  article  of  their 
aliment,  and  the  recently  expressed  juice  of  the  grape 
a  cooling  drink." 

The  Pylean  king  who  lived  to  so  great  an  age,  is 
spoken  of  by  Juvenal  (lib.  x.,  line  250)  as  one  "  Quive 
novum  loties  mustum  bibit ;"  "  who  so  often  drank  fresh 


*  Lib.  Useful  Knowledge,  Pompeii,  vol.  xi.,  p.  213. 


BUT   IS   GRAPE   JUICE   WINE?  71 

must."  And  it  is  recorded  of  the  noble  Venetian 
Cornaro,  who  lived  to  so  great  an  age,  that  he  found 
by  experience,  that  as  soon  as  he  could  procure  fresh 
grape  juice,  it  presently  restored  him  to  the  health 
he  had  lost  while  drinking  old  wine. 

Columella  says  (book  iii.,  chap.  2),  "  the  vine  is 
planted  either  for  food  to  eat,  or  liquor  to  drink." 
Mahomet  says  in  the  Koran,  "  of  grapes  ye  obtain 
an  inebriating  liquor,  and  also  good  nourishment." 

From  a  quotation  in  Com.  Michaelis,  it  appears  that 
the  Mahomedans  of  Arabia  press  the  juice  of  the 
grape  tnrough  a  linen  cloth,  pour  it  into  a  cup  and 
drink  it  as  Pharaoh  did  ;  and  Captain  Charles  Stewart 
says  "  that  the  unfermented  juice  of  the  grape  and 
palm  tree  are  a  delightful  beverage,  in  India,  Persia, 
Palestine,  and  other  adjacent  countries." 

To  this  use  of  grape  juice,  Milton  alludes  in  the 

following  words : 

"  For  drink,  the  grape 
She  crushes  —  inoffensive  must." 

And  in  Gray  w^e  meet  with  a  similar  allusion — 

"  Scent  the  new  fragrance  of  the  breathing  rose, 
And  quaff  the  pendant  vintage  as  it  grows." 

It  were  easy  to  multiply  authorities — but  it  is 
unnecessary.  That  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  as  expressed 
from  the  cluster,  in  the  form  of  fresh  grape  juice, 
has  been  from  remote  antiquity  used  as  beverage,  is 
not  to  be  denied. 

BUT  IS  SUCH  GRAPE  JUICE  WINE  ? 

That  is  the  question — a  question  which  must  be 
answered  in  the  affirmative,  if  either  Moses  or  the 
prophets  are  to  be  accredited. 


SO    DECLARED. 

Among  the  blessings  granted  to  Jacob,  it  is  recor 
ded,  as  we  have  seen,  that  he  "  drank  the  pure  blood 
of  the  grape ;"  that  by  the  "  pure  blood  of  the 
grape,"  was  meant  wine,  is  admitted  by  Dr.  Adam 
Clarke  and  other  distinguished  commentators.  The 
passage,  as  we  have  also  seen,  is  even  rendered  in 
the  Vulgate,  "  Et  sanguincm  uva  bibisti  MERUM" — 
that  is,  and  of  the  blood  of  the  grape  thou  didst  drink 
(oinon,  Septuagint,)  wine. 

Now,  if  the  beverage  of  which  Jacob  drank,  and 
which  is  so  often  referred  to  among  enumerated  bles 
sings,  was  not  wine,  then  the  translators  of  the  Sep 
tuagint,  and  also  of  the  Vulgate,  as  well  as  of  the 
English  Bible,  were  mistaken  ;  and  if  they  were,  and 
if  this  blood  of  the  grape,  declared  to  be  wine  by 
patriarchs  and  prophets ;  declared  to  be  wine  by 
their  translators  and  their  commentators ;  by  men 
belonging  to  different  nations,  speaking  different  lan 
guages,  and  living  in  different  ages  ;  if  this  blood  of 
the  grape,  after  all,  be  not  truly  wine,  and  if  some 
other  and  further  process  be  necessary  to  convert  it 
into  wine,  what  was  that  process,  when  or  where  did 
it  take  place  ;  how  long  did  it  occupy,  or  by  which 
of  the  sacred  writers  has  the  fact  been  recorded  ?  By 
none  of  them.  In  relation  to  each  and  all  these  par 
ticulars  the  Bible  is  silent,  or  rather  it  speaks  only  to 
give  assurance  that  none  of  them  were  requisite. 

Here  we  are  not  left  to  inference.  The  sacred 
writers  are  explicit :  This  fruit  of  the  vine,  in  its 
natural  state  is,  AND  IT  is  DECLARED  TO  BE,  "TIROSH," 

TO    BE     "YAYIN,"     TO    BE     "AUSIS,"    AND,    TO    ADD    NO 

MORE,  TO  BE  "  HHEMER  ;"  all  terms  rendered  OINIS  IN 


SCRIPTURE  TESTIMONY.  73 

GREEK,  VINUM  OK  MERUM  IN  LATIN,  AND  WINE  IN 
ENGLISH. 

Here  there  can  be  no  mistake.  The  blood  of  the 
grape,  that  is,  grape  juice  in  its  natural  state,  is,  in 
the  judgment  of  these  high  authorities,  WINE  ;  and  it 
is  declared  to  be  so  ;  declared  TO  BE  WINE,  AS  EX 
PRESSED  IN  THE  VAT  ;  TO  BE  WINE  IN  THE  PRESS,  BY 
WHICH  IT  IS  EXPRESSED  ;  WINE  IN  THE  CLUSTER  FROM 
WHICH  IT  IS  EXPRESSED  ;  WINE  IN  THE  VINEYARD 
WHERE  THE  CLUSTER  RIPENED,  AND  WHEN  IT  WAS 
GATHERED  ;  AND  TO  CROWN  THE  EVIDENCE,  DECLARED 
TO  BE  SWEET  WINE,  NEW  WINE,  AND  WINE  in  the  Season 

thereof. 

THE   FRUIT  OF   THE  VINE    IS   DECLARED  TO  BE    (tirosh) 
WINE,   AS   EXPRESSED    IN   THE   VAT. 

Joel,  ii.,  24  :  "  And  the  floors  shall  be  full  of  wheat, 
and  the  vats  shall  overflow  with  (in  Hebrew,  *  tirosh  ;' 
in  Greek,  *  oinon  ;'  in  Latin,  *  vino  ;'*  and  in  English) 


IT  IS   DECLARED   TO   BE    (tlTOsh)    WINE,   IN   THE   PRESS 
BY   WHICH   IT   WAS   EXPRESSED. 

Proverbs,  iii.,  10 :  "  So  shall  thy  bams  be  filled  with 
plenty,  and  thy  presses  burst  out  with  (tirosh,  oinon, 
vino)  new  wine." 


*  The  Hebrew,  Greek  and  Latin  terms  in  this  and  the  following 
quotations  are  transferred  from  the  Hebrew  Bible,  the  Septaugint  and 
the  Vulgate,  as  they  exist  there,  in  the  corresponding  passages,  with 
out  change  of  case. 

NOTT.  7 


74  SCRIPTURE   TESTIMONY. 

Hosea,  ix.,  2  :  "  The  floor  and  the  wine  press  shall 
not  feed  them,  and  the  (tirosh,  oinos,  vinum)  new  wine 
shall  fail  in  her." 

IT   IS    DECLARED    TO    BE    (tirosh)    WINE    IN   THE    CLUS 
TER*  FROM   WHICH   IT   WAS   EXPRESSED. 

Isaiah,  Ixv.,  8 :  "  Thus  saith  the,  Lord,  as  the 
(tirosh)  new  wine  is  found  in  the  cluster  and  one 
saith,  destroy  it  not,  for  a  blessing  is  in  it ;  so  will  I 
do  for  my  servants'  sakes,  that  I  may  not  destroy 
them  all." 

IT    IS  DECLARED    TO    BE    (tirosh)    WINE    IN    THE    VINE 
YARD,    WHERE    THE    CLUSTER    IS   RIPENED. 

Judges,  ix.,  13 :  "  And  the  vine  said  unto  them, 
should  I  leave  my  (tirosh,  oinon,  vinum)  wine,  which 
cheereth  God  and  man,  and  go  to  be  promoted  over 
the  trees?" 

Psalms,  iv.,  7  :  "  Thou  hast  put  gladness  in  my 
heart,  more  than  in  the  time  that  their  corn  and 
(tirosh,  oinou,  vini)  wine  increased." 

Joel,  i.,  10 :  "  The  field  is  wasted,  the  landmourneth, 
for  the  corn  is  wasted;  the  (tirosh,  oinos,  vinum)  new 
wine  is  dried  up,  the  oil  languisheth." 

IT    IS    DECLARED    TO    BE    (tirosh)    SWEET   WINE,    NEW 
WINE,    AND   WINE    IN   THE   SEASON   THEREOF. 

Micah,  vi.,  15  :  "  Thou  shalt  sow  but  thou  shalt 
not  reap  ;  thou  shalt  tread  the  olives,  but  thou  shalt 
not  anoint  thee  with  oil;  and  (tirosh,  oinou)  sweet 
wine,  but  shalt  not  drink  (yayin,  vinum)  wine." 


SCRIPTURE   TESTIMONY.  75 

Isaiah,  xxiv.,  7:  "The  (tirosh,  oinos)  new  wine 
mourneth,  the  vine  languisheth,  all  the  merry-hearted 
do  sigh." 

Haggai,  i.,  11:  "  And  I  called  for  a  drought  upon 
the  land,  and  upon  the  mountains  and  upon  the  corn, 
and  upon  the  (tirosh,  oinou,  vinum)  new  wine,  and 
upon  the  oil,  and  upon  that  which  the  ground  bringeth 
forth,  and  upon  men,  and  upon  cattle,  and  upon  all 
the  labor  of  the  hands." 

Zech.,  ix.,  17:  "For  how  great  is  his  goodness, 
and  how  great  is  his  beauty !  corn  shall  make  the 
young  men  cheerful,  and  (tirosh,  oinos,  vinum)  new 
wine  the  maids." 

Neh.,  xiii.,  5  :  "  And  he  had  prepared  for  him  a 
great  chamber,  where  aforetime  they  laid  the  meat 
offerings,  the  frankincense  and  the  vessels,  and  tho 
tithes  of  the  corn,  the  (tirosh,  oinou,  vini)  new  wine, 
and  the  oil,  which  was  commanded  to  be  given  to  the 
Levites,  and  the  singers,  and  the  porters,  and  the 
offerings  of  the  priests." 

Neh.,  xiii.,  12 :"  Then  brought  all  Judah  the  tithe 
of  the  corn,  and  the  (tirosh,  oinou,  vini)  new  wine, 
and  the  oil  unto  the  treasuries." 

Finally,  the  fruit  of  the  vine  in  its  natural  state  is 

DECLARED  TO  BE  (tirosh)  WINE,  AS  ASSOCIATED  WITH 
CORN  AND  OIL,  AND  OTHER  PRODUCTS  OF  THE  FOLD,  AND 
OF  THE  FIELD,  AND  EXISTING  ALMOST,  IF  NOT  ALWAYS, 
NOT  IN  AN  ARTIFICIAL,  BUT  IN  THE  NATURAL  STATE  ;  AND 
THUS  ASSOCIATED  WITH  CORN  AND  OTHER  NATURAL 
PRODUCTIONS,  AS  A  BLESSING  —  AS  FIRST  FRUITS  —  AS 
TITHES  —  AS  OFFERINGS  —  AS  INCREASING  AND  LAN- 


76  SCRIPTURE    TESTIMONY. 

GUISHING  IN  THE  FIELD  —  AS  IN  ITS  SEASON  —  AS  GATH 
ERED  FROM  THE  FIELD — AND  WITH  CORN  AND  (yayin) 
WINE. 

IT  IS  DECLARED  TO  BE  WINE  WHEN  ASSOCIATED  WITH 
CORN  AND  OTHER  PRODUCTS,  IN  THEIR  NATURAL 
STATE  CONSIDERED  A  BLESSING. 

Gen.,  xxvii.,  28  :  "  Therefore  God  give  thee  of  the 
dew  of  Heaven,  and  the  fatness  of  the  earth,  and 
plenty  of  corn  and  (tirosh,  oinou,  vini)  wine." 

Gen.,  xxvii.,  37:  "And  Isaac  answered  and  said 
unto  Esau,  behold  I  have  made  him  thy  lord,  and  all 
his  brethren  have  I  given  to  him  for  servants ;  anv! 
with  corn  and  (tirosh,  oino,  vino)  wine  have  I  sustained 
him;  and  what  shall  I  do  now  unto  thee,  my  son?" 

Deut.,  vii.,  13:  "And  he  will  love  thee  *  *  *  he 
will  bless  the  fruit  of  thy  land,  thy  corn,  and  thy 
(tirosh,  oinon)  wine,  and  thine  oil,"  &c. 

Deut.,  xxviii.,  51 :  "Which  also  shall  not  leave  thee 
either  corn  (tirosh,  oinon,  vinum),  wine,  or  oil,"  &c., 
"  until  he  have  destroyed  thee." 

Deut.,  xxxiii.,  28 :  "  The  fountain  of  Jacob  shall  be 
upon  a  land  of  corn  and  (tirosh,  oino,  vim)  wine,  also 
his  heavens  shall  drop  down  dew." 

Hosea,  ii.,  8:  "For  she  did  not  know  that  I  gave 
her  corn  and  (tirosh,  oinon,  vinum)  wine,  and  oil,  and 
multipled  her  silver  and  gold,  which  they  prepared 
for  Baal." 

Hosea,  ii.,  22 :  "And  the  earth  shall  bear  the  com, 
and  the  (tirosh,  oinon,  vinum)  wine,  and  the  oil,"  &c. 


SCRIPTURE   TESTIMONY.  77 

Joel,  ii.,  19:  "Behold  I  will  send  you  corn  and 
(tirosh,  oinou,  vinum)  wine,  and  oil,  and  ye  shall  be 
satisfied  therewith." 

2  Kings,  xviii.,  32:  "Until  I  come  and  take  you 
away  to  a  land  like  your  own  land,  a  land  of  corn 
and  (tirosh,  oinou,  vini)  wine,  a  land  of  bread  and 
vineyards,  a  land  of  oil-olive  and  of  honey,"  &c. 

Isaiah,  xxxvi.,  17:  "Until  I  come  and  take  you 
away  to  a  land  like  your  own  land,  a  land  of  corn 
and  (tirosh,  oinou,  vini)  wine,  a  land  of  bread  and 
vineyards." 

Isaiah,  Ixii.,  8 :  "  Surely  I  will  no  more  give  thy 
corn  to  be  meat  for  thine  enemies ;  and  the  sons  of 
the  stranger  shall  not  drink  the  (tirosh,  oinon,  vinum) 
wine  for  the  which  thou  hast  labored." 

Jer.,  xxxi.,  12:  "Therefore  they  shall  come  and 
sing  in  the  height  of  Zion,  and  shall  flow  together  to 
the  goodness  of  the  Lord — for  wheat,  and  for  (tirosh, 
oinou,  vino)  wine,  and  for  oil,"  &c. 

Neh.,  v.,  11 :  "Restore,  I  pray  you,  to  them,  even 
this  day,  their  lands,  their  vineyards,  also  the  hun 
dredth  part  of  the  money  *  *  *  and  of  the  corn, 
the  (tirosh,  oinon,  vini)  wine,  and  the  oil,  that  ye  exact 
from  them. 

IT  IS  DECLARED  TO  BE  WINE   WHEN   ASSOCIATED  WITH 
CORN  AS  FIRST  FRUITS. 

Deut.,  xii.,  17:  "Thou  mayest  not  eat  within  thy 
gates  the  tithe  of  thy  corn,  or  of  thy  (tirosh,  oinou, 
vini)  wine,  or  of  thy  oil,"  &c. 

Deut.,  xiv.,  23:  "And  thou  shalt  eat  before  the 
Lord  thy  Grod  in  the  place  which  he  shall  choose  to 

NOTT.  *7 


78  SCRIPTURE   TESTIMONY, 

place  his  name  there,  the  tithe  of  tliy  corn,  of  thy 
(tirosh,  oinou,  vini)  wine,  and  of  thine  oil,"  &c. 

IT  IS  DECLARED   TO   BE  WINE  WHEN  ASSOCIATED  WITH 
CORN,   ETC.,   AS  OFFERINGS. 

Neh.,  x.,  39:  "For  the  children  of  Israel,  and  the 
children  of  Levi  shall  bring  the  offering  of  the  corn, 
of  the  (tirosh,  oinou,  vini)  new  wine,  and  the  oil,  unto 
the  chambers." 

IT  IS  DECLARED  TO  BE  WINE  WHEN  ASSOCIATED  WITH 
CORN,  ETC.,  AS  INCREASING  OR  LANGUISHING  IN  THE 
FIELD. 

Deut.,  xxxiii.,  28 :  "  The  fountain  of  Jacob  shall  be 
upon  a  land  of  corn  and  (tirosh,  oino,  vini)  wine,  also 
his  heavens  shall  drop  down  dew." 

2  Chron.,  xxxi.,  5  :  "  The  children  of  Israel  brought 
in  abundance  the  first  fruits  of  corn  (tirosh,  oinou, 
vim),  wine,  and  oil,  and  honey,  and  of  all  the  increase 
of  the  field,"  &c. 

Psalms,  iv.,  7 :  "  Thou  hast  put  gladness  in  my 
heart,  more  than  in  the  time  that  their  corn  and 
their  (tirosh,  oinou,  vini)  wine  increased." 

Joel,  i.,  10  :  "  The  field  is  wasted,  the  land  mourn- 
eth,  for  the  corn  is  wasted ;  the  (tirosh,  oinos,  vinum) 
new  wine  is  dried  up,  the  oil  languisheth." 

IT  IS  DECLARED   TO  BE  WINE  WHEN  ASSOCIATED  WITH 
CORN  IN  ITS  SEASON. 

Hosea,  ii.,  9  :  "  Therefore  will  I  return  and  take 
away  my  corn  in  the  time  thereof,  and  my  (tirosh, 


SCRIPTURE    TESTIMONY.  79 

oinon,  vinum)  wine  in  the  season  thereof,  and  will 
recover  my  wool  and  my  flax,"  &c. 

IT  IS  DECLARED   TO   BE  WINE  WHEN   ASSOCIATED  WITH 
CORN  AS  GATHERED  FROM  THE  FIELD. 

Dent.,  xi.,  14 :  "  That  I  will  give  you  the  rain  of 
your  land  in  his  due  season,  the  first  rain  and  the 
latter  rain,  that  thou  mayest  gather  in  thy  corn,  and 
thy  (tirosh,  onion,  vinum)  wine  and  thy  oil." 

IT  IS   DECLARED  TO    BE  WINE  WHEN  ASSOCIATED  WITH 

CORN,  ALSO  WITH  (yayin)  WINE. 

Hosea,  vii.,  14 :  "  They  assemble  themselves  for 
corn  and  (tirosh  oino,  vinum)  wine,  and  they  rebel 
against  me." 

Hosea,  iv.,  11:  "Whoredom  and  (yayin,  oinon, 
vinum)  wine,  and  (tirosh)  new  wine  take  away  the 
heart." 

THE   FRUIT    OF    THE    VINE    IN    ITS    NATURAL     STATE    IS 
DECLARED  TO  BE  (ausis)  NEW  WINE. 

Joel,  i.,  5  :  "  Awaye,ye  drunkards,  and  weep  ;  and 
howl  all  ye  drinkers  of  (yayin,  oinou,  vinum  in  dulce- 
dine)  wine,  because  of  the  (ausis)  new  wine,  for  it 
is  cut  off  from  your  mouth." 

Joel,  iii.,  18.  "  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that 
day,  that  the  mountains  shall  drop  down  (ausis,  glu- 
Icasmon,  dulcedinum)  new  wine,  and  the  hills  shall 
flow  with  milk,  and  all  the  rivers  shall  flow  with 
waters,  and  a  fountain  shall  come  forth  of  the  house 
of  the  Lord,  and  shall  \vaterthe  valley  of  Shittim." 


80  SCRIPTURE    TESTIMONY. 

Amos,  ix.,  13:  "  Behold  the  days  come,  saiththe 
Lord,  that  the  ploughman  shall  overtake  the  reaper, 
and  the  treader  of  grapes,  him  that  soweth  seed ; 
and  the  mountains  shall  drop  (amis,  glukasmon,  dul- 
ccdinum)  sweet  wine,  and  all  the  hills  shall  melt." 

IT  IS   DECLARED   TO    BE    (yayin)    WINE    IN   THE    PRESS. 

Neh.,  xiii.,  15 :  "In  those  days  saw  I  in  Judah 
some  treading  wine  presses  on  the  Sabbath,  and  bring 
ing  in  sheaves,  *  *  *  as  also  (yayin,  oino,  vinum) 
wine,  grapes  and  figs." 

Isaiah,  xvi.,  10  :  "  And  gladness  is  taken  away,  and 
joy  out  of  the  plentiful  fields,  and  in  the  vineyards 
there  shall  be  no  singing,  neither  shall  there  be 
shoutings ;  the  treaders  shall  tread  out  no  ( yayin, 
oinon,  vinum )  wine  in  their  presses ;  I  have  made 
their  vintage  shouting  to  cease." 

Jer.,  xlviii.,  33  :  "  And  joy  and  gladness  is  taken 
from  the  plentiful  field,  and  from  the  land  of  Moab, 
and  I  have  caused  (yayin,  oinos,  vinum)  wine  to  fail 
from  the  wine  presses ;  none  shall  tread  with  shout 
ings  ;  their  shoutings  shall  be  no  shouting." 

IT  IS  DECLARED  TO  BE  (yayin)  WINE  IN  THE  VINEYARD. 

1  Chron.,  xxvii.,  27  :  "  And  over  the  vineyards  was 
Shimei,  the  Eamathite,  over  the  increase  of  the  vine 
yards,  for  the  (yayin,  oinou,  vinariis)  wine-sellers 
was  Zabdi,  the  Shiphmite." 

Amos,  v.,  11:  "For  as  much  therefore,  as  your 
treading  is  upon  the  poor,  *  *  *  ye  have  planted 


SCRIPTUEE    TESTIMONY.  81 

pleasant  vineyards,  but  ye  shall  not  drink  (yayin, 
oinon,  vinum)  wine  in  them." 

Amos,  ix.,  14 :  "  And  I  will  bring  again  the  capti 
vity  of  my  people  Israel,  *  *  *  and  they  shall 
plant  vineyards,  and  drink  the  (yayin,  oinon,  vinum) 
wine  thereof;  they  shall  also  make  gardens  and  eat 
the  fruit  of  them." 

Zeph.,  i.,  13  :  "  Therefore  their  goods  shall  become 
a  booty,  and  their  houses  a  desolation;  they  shall 
also  build  houses  but  not  inhabit  them;  and  they 
shall  plant  vineyards,  but  not  drink  the  (yayin,  oinon, 
vinum )  wine  thereof." 

Isaiah,  xxvii.,  2 :  "  In  that  day  sing  ye  to  her, 
(hhcmer,  vineameri)  a  vineyard  of  red  wine." 

Gen.,  xlix.,  11:  "Binding  his  foal  unto  the  vine, 
and  his  ass's  colt  unto  the  choice  vine,  he  washed 
his  garments  in  (yayin,  oino,  vino)  wine,  and  his 
clothes  in  the  blood  of  grapes." 

Deut.,  xxviii.,  39  :  "  Thou  shalt  plant  vineyards 
and  dress  them,  but  shalt  neither  drink  of  the  ( yayin, 
oinon,  vinum)  wine,  nor  gather  the  grapes,  for  the 
worms  shall  eat  them." 

2  Kings,  xviii.,  32 :  "  Until  I  come  and  take  you 
away  to  a  land  like  your  own  land,  a  land  of  corn 
(tirosh,  oinou,  vini)  wine,  a  land  of  bread  and  vine 
yards,  a  land  of  oil-olive,  arid  of  honey,  that  ye  may 
live  and  not  die." 

Isaiah,  xxxvi.,  17:  "Until  I  come  and  take  you 
away  to  a  land  like  your  own  land,  a  land  of  corn 
and  (tirosh,  oinou,  vini)  wine,  a  land  of  bread  and 
vineyards." 


82  FRUIT   OF   THE   VINE    CALLED   WINE. 

Jer.,  xl.,  10:  "But  ye,  gather  ye  (yayin,  oinon, 
vindemiam )  wine  and  summer  fruits,  and  oil,  and  put 
them  in  your  vessels,  and  dwell  in  your  cities  that 
you  have  taken." 

Joel,  i.,  5  :  "  Awake,  ye  drunkards,  and  weep  ;  and 
howl  all  ye  drinkers  of  (yayin,  oinon,  vimim)  wine, 
because  of  the  (amis)  new  wine,  for  it  is  cut  off  from 
your  mouth." 

FINALLY  THE  FRUIT  OF  THE  VINE,  IN  ITS  NATURAL 
STATE,  IS  DECLARED  TO  BE  (hhemer)  RED  WINE  IN 
THE  VINEYARD. 

Isaiah,  xxvii.,  2 :  "In  that  day  sing  ye  to  her  (hhemer) 
a  vineyard  of  red  wine." 

Thus  apparent  is  it,  that  in  the  opinion  of  the 
translators  of  our  English  Bible,  the  fruit  of  the 
vine,  in  its  natural  and  unintoxicating,  as  well  as  in 
its  artificial  and  intoxicating  state,  was  called  by  Moses 
and  the  Prophets,  WINE. 

Nor  in  the  opinion  of  the  translators  of  our  Eng 
lish  Bible  only,  but  in  the  opinion  also  of  the  trans 
lators  of  the  Septuagint,  and  the  Vulgate  also.  These 
all,  as  has  been  shown,  render  the  terms  by  which  the 
fruit  of  the  vine  in  its  natural  state  is  designated,  by 
the  same  terms  which  designate  it  in  its  artificial  state. 

Had  there  been  but  a  single  undisputed  text  in 
which  the  fruit  of  the  vine  in  its  natural  unintoxi 
cating  state  was  called  WINE,  that  single  text  ought 
to  be  deemed  conclusive.  How  much  more  so,  when 
there  are  so  many  texts  in  which  it  is  so  called  by 
different  writers,  and  during  so  many  ages. 


UNFERMENTED  WINE  OF  SUPERIOR  QUALITY.   83 

What  tlie  terms  were  which  the  sacred  writers 
actually  employed  to  denote  the  fruit  of  the  vine  in 
the  press,  the  vat,  the  cluster,  and  the  vineyard, 
admits  of  no  debate.  They  called  the  fruit  of  the 
vine  in  this  state  tirosh,  amis,  hhemer,  yayin,  rendered 
over  and  over  again,  oinos  in  Greek,  vinum  or  merum 
in  Latin,  and  wine  in  English. 

By  the  name  wine,  and  by  no  other  name,  this 
article  has  always  been  known  to  the  reader  of  the 
English  Bible.  There  it  is  always  called  wine,  as 
eveiy  reader  of  the  Bible  can  assure  himself.  And 
whether  it  is  rightly  called  wine  there ;  and  rightly 
called  oinos  in  the  Sept.,  and  vinum  in  the  Vulgate, 
has  never  (it  is  believed)  till  of  late  been  called  in 
question. 

Be  this,  however,  as  it  may,  that  the  unfermented 
fruit  of  the  vine  in  the  form  of  grape  juice  was  called 
wine,  is  as  apparent  as  it  is  that  it  was  used  as  a 
beverage.  More  than  this,  it  was  not  only  called 
wine,  but  it  was  also  accounted  to  be  good  wine. 

WINE  OF  SUPERIOR  QUALITY,  for  it  was  employed  by 
way  of  distinction  as  a  symbol  of  mercy,  enumerated 
among  other  blessings,  and  declared  to  be  itself  a 
blessing. 

TIROSH,  always  used  by  the  sacred  writers  to  denote 
the  fruit  of  the  vine  in  its  natural,  and  not  in  its 
artificial  state,  occurs  but  thirty-eight  times  in  the 
Hebrew  Bible  :  In  thirty-six  of  which  it  is  clearly 
used  in  a  good  sense  and  with  approbation.  It  is 
used  once  (Hosea,  vii.,  14)  in  a  doubtful  sense  ;  and 
once  and  only  once  (Hosea,  iv.,  11)  in  a  bad  sense  or 


84  TIKOSH  —  YAYIN. 

with  disapprobation,  and  then  in  connection  with 
yayin;  but  not  on  account  of  any  imputed  inebria 
ting  qualities,  but  as  contributing  to  take  away  the 
heart.* 

YAYIN  is  a  generic  term,  and  when  not  restricted 
in  its  meaning  by  some  word  or  circumstance,  compre 
hends  vinous  beverage  of  every  sort,  however  pro 
duced,  and  whether  the  fruit  of  the  vine  or  not.  It 
is,  however,  as  we  have  seen,  often  restricted  to  the 
fruit  of  the  vine  in  its  natural  and  unintoxicating 
state.  But  when  so  restricted,  we  have  in  no  instance 
found  it  used  in  a  bad  sense,  or  with  disapprobation. 
Yayin  is  also  frequently  restricted  to  the  fruit  of  the 
vine  in  its  artificial  or  intoxicating  state,  in  which 
state  it  is  usually,  if  not  uniformly,  used  in  a  bad 
sense  or  with  disapprobation. 

In  most,  if  not  all  the  following  passages,  yayin  is 
clearly  used  for  the  fruit  of  the  vine  in  an  artificial 
and  intoxicating  state,  and  with  disapprobation,  ex 
pressed  or  implied. 

Yayin,  used  as  causing,  or  in  connection  with  drun 
kenness,  or  drinking,  to  wit : 

"With  the  drunkenness  of  Noah,  Gen.,  ix.,  21,  24. 

«  "  of  Lot, Gen.,  xix.,  32,  33,  34,  85. 

"  "  of  Nabal  (supposed  ), 1  Sam.,  xxv.,  87. 

"  "  of  Ammon, 2  Sam.  xiii.,  28. 

"  "  of  priests  and  prophets, Isaiah  xxviii.,  1. 

"  "  of  kings  and  people, Jer.  xiii.,  13, 14. 

As  causing  drunkenness,  to  prophets, Jer.,  xxiii.,  9. 

"  «'  to  priests  and  prophets, Isaiah,  xxviii.,  7. 

With  woe  to  those  inflamed  by  it, Isaiah,  v.,  11,  12,  22. 


*  Sec  Appendix. 


YAYIN,   IN  CONNECTION  WITH  DRUNKENNESS.      85 

With  woe  to  the  drunkards  of  Ephraim, Isaiah,  xxviii.,  1. 

As  an  illustration  of  drunkenness, Isaiah,  xxix.,  9. 

As  a  symbol  of  drunkenness Isaiah,  li.,  21. 

"With  weeping  of  drunkards, Joel,  i.,  5. 

With  dissoluteness, Joel,  iii.,  3. 

also  Hosea,  iv.,  11. 

With  treachery,  Gen.,  xxvii.,  25. 

With  the  poison  of  dragons, Deut ,  xxxii.,  33. 

With  idolatry, Deut.,  xxxii.,  38. 

With  fury, Jer.,  xxv.,  15. 

With  astonishment, Psalms,  lx.,  8. 

With  drugs, Psalms,  Ixxv.,  8. 

With  violence, Prov.,  iv.,  17. 

With  falsehood, Micah,  ii.,  11. 

With  the  mocker, Prov.,  xx.,  1. 

With  woe  and  sorrow, Prov.,  xxiii.,  29, 31, 32,  33 

With  profaneness, Amos,  ii.,  8. 

With  voluptuousness, Eccles.,  ii.,  8. 

With  festivity  and  merriment, Eccles.,  x.,  19 

also  Amos,  vi.,  6. 

S  Isaiah,  v.,  11, 12,  22. 
Isaiah,  xxii ,  13. 
Isaiah,  Ivi.,  12. 

With  transgression, Hab.,  ii.,  5. 

With  woe, Isaiah,  xxviii.,  1,  also  7. 

"With  prohibition  to  Nazarites, Num.,  vi.,  3. 

"  "        to  the  mother  of  Sampson, Jod.,  xiii.,  4,  7, 14. 

"  "        to  the  mother  of  Samuel, 1  Sam.,  i.,  14,  15. 

"  "        totheEechabites,..., Jer.,  xxxv.,  6,  7,  8. 

"          «        to  the  priests, Lev.,  x.,  9. 

also  Ezekiel,  xliv.,  21. 

With  reproof  to  kings, Prov.,  xxxi.,  4. 

With  temptations  to  Nazarites, Amos,  ii.,  12. 

With  temptation  to  Kechabites, , Jer.,  xxxv  .2,5. 

With  refusal  by  Eechabites, Jer.,  xxxv.,  6,  8, 16 

With  refusal  by  Daniel, Danl ,  i.,  5,  8, 16. 

also  Dan!.,  x.,  8. 

With  punishment, .  Psalms,  Ixxv.,  8. 

With  madness, Jer.,  xli.,  7. 

In  most  if  not  all  the  following  passages,  yayin  is 
used  to  denote  the  fruit  of  the  vine  in  its  natural  and 
unintoxicating  state,  and  in  none  of  them  is  it  used 
with  disapprobation,  either  expressed  or  implied ; 
nor  is  it  elsewhere  ever  so  used  when  employed  to 

NOTT.  8 


86  USED    TO    DENOTE   UNFERMENTED   WINE. 

denote  the  fruit  of  the  vine  in  its  natural  and  unin- 
toxicating  state : 

Gen.,  xliv.,  11 :  Used  for  new  wine  or  the  blood  of 
the  grape. 

Deut.,  xxviii.,  30 :  For  the  same  in  connection 
with  grapes. 

2  Kings,  xviii.,  32 :  For  the  same  in  connection 
with  corn  and  vineyards. 

Psalms,  civ.,  15  :  In  connection  with  oil  and  bread. 

Isaiah,  xvi.,  10 :  In  connection  with  wine  presses 
and  the  treading  of  grapes. 

Isaiah,  xxxvi.,  15  :  With  corn  and  vineyards. 

Isaiah,  lv.,  1 :  With  milk. 

Jer.,  xl.,  10 :  As  a  blessing  in  connection  with 
summer  fruits. 

Jer.,  xl.,  12  :  Same. 

Jer.,  xlviii.,  33  :  With  wine  presses  and  the  treacl 
ing  of  grapes. 

Lam.,  ii.,  12  :  With  corn. 

Amos,  v.,  11 :  With  vineyards. 

Amos,  ix.,  14  :  With  vineyards. 

Neh.,  xiii.,  15  :  With  wine  presses. 

Zeph.,  i.,  13  :  With  vineyards. 

Cant.,  vii.,  9  :  With  sweetness. 

Cant.,  v.,  1 :  With  milk. 

Besides  the  foregoing,  there  are  passages  in  which 
yayin  is  used,  where  there  is  nothing  in  the  imme 
diate  connection  to  indicate  whether  it  be  used  for 
the  fruit  of  the  vine  in  its  natural  or  artificial  state ; 
that  is,  whether  it  is  in  the  state  in  which  it  exists 
in  the  vineyard  and  the  vat,  or  in  the  state  in  which 


SHECHAR.  87 

it  exists  after  being  removed  therefrom  and  subjected 
to  further  fermentation. 

SHECHAR,  sweet  or  saccharine  beverage,  from  the 
sap  of  the  palm,  or  the  sap  or  fruit  of  other  trees, 
except  the  vine,  is  rendered  tfixspa  in  the  Sept.  (from 
the  Hebrew  verb  shachar) ;  and  with  a  single  exception, 
strong  drink  in  the  English  Bible,  that  exception  is 
Exod.,  xxix.,  40,  where  it  is  rendered  strong  wine ; 
by  Theoderet  and  Chrysostom,  both  natives  of  Syria, 
it  is  called  palm  wine.  That  it  is  rightly  so  called, 
is  confirmed  by  the  testimony  of  Doctor  Shaw,  as 
well  as  of  the  modern  Arabs. 

It  occurs  but  twenty-three  times.  It  is  usually 
associated  with  yayin.  One  or  the  other,  or  both 
of  these  terms,  are  used  in  connection  with  drunken 
ness  or  drunken  feasts,  or  are  spoken  of  with  disap 
probation,  upwards  of  seventy  times,  and  in  twenty- 
one  instances  are  employed  to  express  temporal  or 
eternal  judgment.  Whereas  tirosh,  expressive  of 
the  fruit  of  the  vine  in  its  natural  state,  is  never 
once  used  in  such  connection,  nor  employed  for  such 
a  purpose ;  nor,  with  the  single  exception  before 
alluded  to,  is  it  ever  spoken  of  with  disapprobation 
of  any  sort.  And  here  it  may  not  be  impertinent  to 
remark,  that  whenever  wine  is  denounced  in  the 
Bible,  the  denunciation  is  never  against  tirosh,  ausis, 
hhemer  or  sobe,  but  always  against  yayin.  And 
that  whenever  any  other  word  expressive  of  vinous 
beverage  is  associated  with  shechar  in  speaking  of 
drunkenness  and  drunken  feasts,  that  other  word 


88  DISTINCTION   IN   USE   OF   TERMS. 

is  never  tirosh,  or  ausis,  or  sobe,  or  hhemer,  but 
always  yayin. 

So  many  and  such  repeated  commendations  of  the 
fruit  of  the  vine  in  its  natural  and  unfermented  state, 
and  so  many  and  such  repeated  condemnations  of  it 
in  its  artificial  and  fermented  state,  cannot  have  been 
left  upon  record  without  design ;  and  if  that  design, 
to  say  the  least,  be  not  to  encourage  the  use  of  the 
fruit  of  the  vine  in  the  former  state,  and  to  dis 
courage  the  use  of  it  in  the  latter,  it  would  be 
difficult  to  divine  what  it  was* 

The  difference  existing  in  the  kinds  of  vinous 
beverage  formerly  in  use,  and  which  is  so  distinctly 
marked  in  the  Hebrew  text,  is  for  the  most  part 
concealed  from  the  reader  of  the  English  Bible  by 
the  uniform  manner  in  which  the  several  terms 
expressive  of  that  difference  are  translated  wine. 
But  for  which  uniformity,  the  fact  of  the  existence 
of  such  difference,  it  is  believed,  would  not  now  be 
made  a  question ;  and  notwithstanding  that  uni 
formity,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  (especially  con 
sidering  the  poverty  of  the  Hebrew  language)  that 
seven  different  words  have  been  employed  by 
patriarchs  and  prophets  to  express  the  same  identical 
beverage  in  the  same  state. 

In  the  preceding  analysis  we  have  found,  as  it 
might  have  been  expected  we  should,  one  generic  term 
(YAYIN)  expressive  of  vinous  beverage  of  every  sort. 
We  have  also  found  a  term  (TIROSH)  expressive  of 
the  fruit  of  the  vine  as  it  exists  in  the  cluster  in  the 
vineyard,  or  press,  or  vat;  a  term  (AUSIS)  expressive 


RESULT   OF   ANALYSIS  —  TERMS.  89 

of  it  as  it  exists  dropping  or  expressed  fresh  from  the 
cluster ;  a  term  (  SOBHE  )  expressive  of  it  as  inspissated 
or  boiled;  a  term  (HHEMER)  expressive  of  it  when 
unmingled  with  other  ingredients,  and  a  term  (MESCH) 
expressive  of  it  when  mingled ;  whether  with  water 
or  with  drugs.* 

That  the  fruit  of  the  vine  in  all  these  states  is  called 
wine,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  The  proof  of  this  is 
palpable  and  abundant,  and  if  rightly  so  called,  then 
different  kinds  of  wine  formerly  existed,  and  unfer- 
mented  as  well  as  fermented  grape  juice  is  truly 
wine. 

But  it  may  be  said,  though  the  fruit  of  the  vine 
in  its  natural  and  unfermented  state  is  called  wine, 
it  is  not  really  so,  and  is  only  so  called  by  a  well 
known  figure  of  speech,  the  applying  of  the  name 
of  the  product  to  the  material  from  which  it  is  pro 
duced. 

It  is  readily  admitted  that  in  poetry  and  in  other 
imaginative  writings  this  often  occurs,  and  some 
times,  even  though  rarely,  in  mere  prose.  But  were 
this  admitted  in  many,  nay  in  most,  nay  in  all  the 
passages  quoted  ( which  it  is  believed  no  scholar  will 
claim  to  be  the  case) ;  but  were  this  admitted,  it  is 
not  perceived  that  the  admission  would  change  the 
issue  made,  or  in  the  least  weaken  the  arguments 
adduced. 

The  fruit  of  the  vine  in  its  natural  state  is  either 
wine  before  fermentation  or  it  is  not.  Be  it  then  that 


*  See  Appendix. 
NOTT.  *7 ' 


90    COMMENDATIONS    DIRECTED    TO    UNFERMENTED. 

before  fermentation,  though  often  called  wine,  it  is 
not  so  ;  but  merely  something  else  out  of  which  wine 
is  made.  This  admitted,  then  all  the  commendations 
of  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  previous  to  fermentation,  with 
which  the  Bible  abounds,  are  not  commendations  of 
wine  at  all,  but  merely  commendations  of  that  out 
of  which  wine  is  made ;  and  all  the  condemnations 
of  wine  with  which  the  Bible  also  abounds,  are  con- 
demations  of  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  not  before  but 
after  fermentation,  and  are  therefore  condemnations, 
not  of  that  out  of  which  wine  is  made,  but  condem 
nations  of  the  veritable  article  made,  WINE  ITSELF. 

And  if  the  numerous  commendations  of  the  fruit 
of  the  vine,  before  fermentation,  with  which  the 
Bible  abounds,  be  laid  out  of  the  account,  it  will  be 
very  difficult  to  find  any  clear  and  unequivocal  com 
mendations  of  wine  in  the  Bible  at  all.  For  it  is 
before  and  not  after  fermentation  that  the  possession 
of  the  fruit  of  the  vine  is  spoken  of  as  a  national 
blessing,  its  loss  as  a  national  curse.  And  it  is  after 
and  not  before  fermentation  that  the  fruit  is  styled  a 
mocker,  associated  with  crime,  and  employed  itself 
as  a  symbol  of  wrath. 

To  test  the  truth  of  this,  let  any  reader  of  the 
Bible  collect  and  arrange  in  one  column  all  the 
passages  in  which  wine  is  spoken  of  with  approba 
tion,  either  expressly  or  by  implication  ;  and  let  him 
also  collect  and  arrange  in  another  column  all  the 
passages  in  which  wine  is  spoken  of  with  disappro 
bation,  either  expressly  or  by  implication,  and  if  he 
does  not  discover  in  the  sequel  that  the  approbation 


FERMENTED    WINE   NOT    COMMENDED.  91 

expressed  in  the  passages  selected  is  usually,  if  not 
always,  approbation  of  the  fruit  of  the  vine  before 
fermentation,  and  that  the  disapprobation  expressed 
is  disapprobation  of  the  fruit  of  the  vine  after  fer 
mentation,  he  will  have  succeeded  in  collecting  (and 
arranging  in  separate  columns)  a  series  of  texts 
which  have  been  overlooked  in  this  inquiry. 

If  wine  be  commended  at  all  in  the  Bible,  and 
there  is  no  doubt  it  is,  its  commendation  will  be 
found,  it  is  believed,  chiefly  if  not  wholly  in  the 
commendation  of  the  so-called  wine  of  the  vineyard, 
the  cluster,  the  press  and  the  vat.  Grapes  and  grape 
juice,  then,  before  fermentation  (whether  wine  or 
not),  are  articles  which  God  appoves  and  commends — 
whereas  grape  juice  after  fermentation,  though  truly 
wine,  and  the  only  article  by  supposition  rightly  so 
called,  is  an  article  often  repudiated  and  abundantly 
spoken  against — and,  if  its  nature  has  not  changed, 
not  without  reason  was  it  spoken  against.  For  it  is 
now  what  it  was  said  to  be  then,  "  a  mocker;"  and 
now  as  then  it  causes  woe  and  sorrow  and  redness  of 
eyes  and  wounds  without  cause ;  and  now  as  then  it 
is  armed  with  the  serpent's  bite  and  the  adder's  sting. 

To  conclude :  That  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  in  its 
natural  state,  was  not  only  called  wine,  but  was 
accounted  by  the  sacred  writers  a  better  article, 
being  more  frequently  commended  and  less  frequently 
spoken  against  than  the  fruit  of  the  vine  in  its  artifi 
cial  state,  would  seem  sufficiently  apparent  from  the 
authorities  already  quoted. 


92  UNFERMENTED   WINE   DEFINED. 

Whether  the  fruit  of  the  vine  in  the  former  state 
might  not  possibly  be  procured  and  preserved  at  so 
low  a  temperature  as  wholly  to  prevent  the  forma 
tion  of  alcohol,  by  preventing  fermentation,  it  is  not, 
in  so  far  as  this  discussion  is  concerned,  needful  to 
inquire ;  since  it  is  readily  admitted  that  in  the 
climate  of  Judea  this  could  not  ordinarily  if  ever  be 
the  case. 

BY  UNFERMENTED  WINE,  therefore,  as  used  in  this 
discussion,  is  meant  wine  that  has  undergone  no  arti 
ficial  or  other  or  further  fermentation  than  what 
ordinarily  takes  place  in  the  vat  and  the  press,  and 
sometimes  perhaps  even  in  the  cluster.  Such  wine, 
though  not  entirely  free  from  alcohol,  contains  but 
little  of  that  element,  and  that  little  so  modified  by 
the  remaining  saccharine  matter,  with  which  it  exists 
in  admixture,  as  to  prevent  its  producing  intoxica 
tion,  even  though  used  freely  and  to  the  extent 
required  for  common  beverage.  Nor  would  it,  even 
if  used  to  excess  (though  it  might  produce  sickness), 
produce  intoxication ;  and  it  may,  therefore,  in  dis 
tinction  from  the  more  fully  fermented  fruit  of  the 
vine,  be  fitly  called,  as  we  have  called  it,  UNINTOXI- 
CATING  WINE.  Whether  profane  writers  have  made 
the  same  distinction  as  the  sacred  writers  have  made, 
in  the  states  in  which  the  fruit  of  the  vine  exists,  and 
whether,  when  in  its  natural  state,  they  call  it  wine, 
and  in  what  estimation  it  was  formerly  and  is  still 
held  by  them  in  this  state,  will  be  made  the  subject 
of  inquiry  in  our  next  lecture. 


LECTURE  No.  IV. 


INQUIRY  EXTENDED  TO  PROFANE  WRITERS. 

The  wine  question  continued  —  Grape  juice  spoken  of  as  a  beverage 
by  profane  writers  —  Called  wine  —  Pronounced  good  wine  —  bet 
ter  before  than  after  fermentation  —  The  formation  of  alcohol  inten 
tionally  prevented  by  arresting  fermentation  —  dissipated  when 
formed  by  the  filter,  or  counteracted  by  dilution  — The  question  at 
issue  a  question  of  degree,  not  of  totality  —  The  question  of  sin 
per  se  considered  —  Perfect  purity  not  attainable  —  Wine  placed 
on  the  same  footing  as  other  articles  of  food. 

WE  have  attempted,  in  the  preceding  lecture,  to 
show  that  sacred  writers  make  a  distinction  between 
the  fruit  of  the  vine  in  its  natural  (that  is,  its  unfer- 
mented  and  unintoxicating )  state,  and  its  artificial 
(that  is,  its  fermented  and  intoxicating)  state  ;  that 
in  both  these  states  it  is  called  in  the  Hebrew  text 
yayin,  in  the  Greek  version  oinon,  in  the  Latin  vinum, 
and  in  the  English  wine ;  that  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  in 
its  natural  state,  was  not  only  called  wine,  but  was 
accounted  better  wine,  being  more  highly  com 
mended,  and  less  frequently  and  severely  spoken 
against,  than  the  fruit  of  the  vine  in  its  artificial  and 
intoxicating  state. 


94  CATO. 

Now,  though  this  were  peculiar  to  the  sacred  wri 
ters,  it  would  be  decisive  of  the  question  at  issue.  It 
is  what  Moses  and  Samuel  and  David  and  Isaiah  and 
Jeremiah  and  other  sacred  writers,  and  not  what 
Aristotle  and  Plato  and  Columella  and  other  profane 
writers  say,  that  we  are  chiefly  concerned  to  know, 
But  whether  this  be  peculiar  to  the  sacred  writers, 
or  common  to  them  and  to  profane  writers,  we  are 
now  prepared  to  inquire. 

That  the  profane  writers  made  the  same  distinction 
between  the  fruit  of  the  vine  in  its  natural  and  arti 
ficial  state,  as  the  sacred  writers  made ;  that  the  fruit 
of  the  vine  in  its  natural  state  was  used  as  a  beve 
rage,  and  that  in  both  states  it  was  called  wine, 
would  seem  apparent  from  the  following  testimony : 

Cato  the  elder,  in  his  work  on  "  Rural  Affairs," 
has  a  chapter  concerning  PENDANT  WINE.  "Lex  vini 
pendentis"  is  the  heading  of  this  chapter.  It  is  the 
cxlvii. 

The  regulation  concerning  the  hanging  or  ungath- 
ered  wine  is  as  follows:  " Hac  lege  vinum  pendens 
venire  oportet.  Vinaceos  illutos  effaces  relinquito.  Locus 
vinis  ad  Jcalendas  Octobris  primas  dabitur  ;  si  non  anteea 
exportaveris,  dominus  vino  quod  volet  faciet."  "  Accord 
ing  to  this  regulation,  the  hanging  wine  ought  to 
be  sold.  You  are  to  leave  the  husks  un watered,  and 
the  dregs.  A  place  shall  be  set  apart  for  the  wine, 
down  to  the  first  kalends  of  October ;  if  you  have 
not  carried  them  clear  off  before,  the  proprietor  shall 
do  whatever  he  pleases  with  the  wine."  That  Cato 
used  the  term  vinum,  for  wine  in  the  cluster,  is  appa- 


LIVY  —  OVID  —  PLUTARCH  —  PLAUTUS.      95 

rent  from  the  next  chapter,  in  which  he  treats  of 
vinum  in  doliis — the  wine  in  the  casks. 

Livy,  who  flourished  in  the  golden  age  of  Roman 
literature,  when  accounting  for  the  settlement  in  the 
plains  of  Italy  of  the  Clusii  (one  of  the  barbarous 
tribes  of  ancient  Gaul),  says  (lib.  v.,  chap.  33) :  "Earn 
gentem  (sell.  Clusinum)  traditur  fama  dulcedine  frugum, 
maximeque  vim,  nova  turn  uoluptate,  captam,  Alpes  tran- 
sisse,  agrosque  ab  Etruscis  ante  cultos  posscdisse :  et  invex- 
isse  in  Galliam  vinum  inliciendce  gentis  causa  Aruntem 
Clusinum"  fyc.  "  There  is  a  traditionary  report  that 
that  nation  (the  Clusii),  captivated  by  the  luscious- 
ness  of  the  fruits,  and  especially  of  the  (vinum)  wine, 
crossed  over  the  Alps,  and  took  possession  of  the 
inclosed  lands,  hitherto  cultivated  by  the  Eturians ; 
and  that  Aruns,  the  Clusian,  for  the  purpose  of  allur 
ing  his  people,  imported  (vinum)  wine  into  Gaul." 

Ovid  applies  the  Latin  merum,  wine,  in  the  same 
manner :  "  Vixque  merum  capiunt  grana,  quod  intus 
habent."  "And  scarce  the  grapes  contain  the  wine 
within." 

Calmet  says :  "  The  ancients  had  the  secret  of  pre 
serving  wine  sweet  throughout  the  year ;"  and  Plu 
tarch  affirms,  that  "before  the  time  of  Psammeticus, 
the  Egyptians  neither  drank  fermented  wine,  nor 
offered  it  in  sacrifice." 

According  to  Plautus,  who  lived  about  two  hun 
dred  years  before  Christ,  the  Latin  mustum  signified 
"both  wine  and  sweet  juice."* 

*  Leigh's  Critica  Sacra,  p.  58. 


96  TIBULLUS   AND    OTHERS. 

Says  Nicander  :  "  Olvsvg  Pev  xoiXoi&v  atfoSXj^as  8s*ae<t- 
tfiv,  oivov  J/iX^tfe."  "  And  CEnus  having  squeezed  the 
juice  of  the  grapes,  into  hollow  cups,  called  it  wine 
(oivov)."  Thus  the  Greeks,  as  well  as  the  Hebrews, 
called  fresh  grape  juice  wine. 

Says  Tibullus,  in  his  fifth  Elegy:  "Ilia  deo  sciet 
agricola  pro  vitibus  uvam,  pro  scgete  spicas  grege  ferre 
dapem." 

"  With  pious  care,  will  load  each  rural  shrine, 
For  ripened  crops  a  golden  sheaf  assign, 
Gates  for  my  fold,  rich  clusters  for  my  wine"  * 

"A  white  sweet  liquor  distils  from  the  Palm," 
which,  Prof.  Kid  says,  "is  used  extensively  in  India, 
under  the  name  of  Palm  wine."  t 

(Toys*,)  "Wine  which  is  made  by  squeezing  the 
grapes — the  expressed  juice  of  grapes."  \ 

"  Pressed  wine  is  that  which  is  squeezed  with  a 
press  from  the  grapes ;  sweet  wine  is  that  which  has 
not  yet  fermented."  § 

"  Must,  the  wine  or  liquor  in  the  vat."  |j 

11  The  modern  Turks  carry  the  unfermented  wine 
along  with  them  in  their  journeys."  ^[ 

That  profane  writers,  both  Greek  and  Latin,  have 
not  only  made  the  distinction  between  the  fruit  of 
the  vine  in  its  natural  and  its  artificial  state,  and 
spoke  of  the  former  as  beverage,  and  called  it  wine 

BUT  THAT  THEY  HAVE  ALSO  SPOKEN  OF  IT  AS  GOOD 


*  Grainger.  §  Rees'  Encyclopedia. 

f  Bridgewater's  Treatise,  p.  214.       ||  Dr.  Sanders. 

$  Parkhurst.  If  Sir  Edward  Barry. 


HORACE.  97 

WINE,  AND  SPOKEN  OF  OTHER  WINE  AS  GOOD,  WTHICH, 
ON  ACCOUNT  OF  ITS  UNINTOXICATING  NATURE,  RESEM 
BLED  THE  FRUIT  OF  THE  VINE  IN  ITS  NATURAL  STATE, 
WILL  BE  APPARENT  FROM  THE  FOLLOWING  AUTHO 
RITIES. 

Whatever  may  be  the  decision  of  those  whose  taste 
has  been  depraved  by  the  fabricated  wines  of  com 
merce  and  the  drinking  usages  of  the  moderns,  there 
cannot  be  a  doubt  that  the  wise  and  good  men  among 
the  ancients,  as  well  uninspired  as  inspired,  appre 
ciated  wines  of  every  kind  the  higher,  the  less  alco 
hol  and  the  more  saccharine  matter  they  severally 
contained;  and  the  contained  alcohol,  other  things 
being  equal,  depended  on  the  extent  to  which  fer 
mentation  was  carried. 

Even  Horace  was  evidently  aware  of  the  distinc 
tion  between  intoxicating  and  unintoxicating  wine  : 

u  Aufidius  forti  miscebat  mella  Falerno 
Mendose ;  quoniam  vacuis  committere  venis 
Nil  nisi  lene  decet,  leni  pragcordia  mulso 
Prolueris  melius."* 

"  Aufidius  first,  most  injudicious,  quaffed 

Strong  wine  and  honey  for  his  morning  draught ; 
With  lenient  beverage  fill  your  empty  veins, 
For  lenient  must  will  better  cleanse  the  reins." 

Elsewhere  the  same  poet  says  : 

'  Hie  innocentis  pocula  Lesbii, 
Duces  sub  umbra ;  nee  Semclius 
Cum  Marte  confundet  Thyoneus 
Pnelia." 


*  Horace,  Sat.  4,  24. 
NOTT.  9 


98  COLUMELLA. 

He  tells  his  friend  Mecaenas,  that  he  might  drink 
a  "  hundred  glasses  of  this  innocent  Lesbian,"  with 
out  any  danger  to  his  head  or  senses.  In  the  Del 
phian  edition  of  Horace,  we  are  told  that  "  Lesbian 
wine  could  injure  no  one ;  that,  as  it  would  neither 
affect  the  head  nor  inflame  the  passions,  there  was 
no  fear  that  those  who  drank  it  would  become  quar 
relsome."  It  is  added,  that  "  there  is  no  wine  sweeter 
to  drink  than  Lesbian ;  that  it  was  like  nectar,  and 
more  resembled  ambrosia  than  wine ;  that  it  was 
perfectly  harmless,  and  would  not  produce  intoxi 
cation." 

Athenaeus  (as  translated  by  Baccius)  says,  that 
Surrentinum  pingue  et  valde  debile"  "  Surrentine  wine 
was  fat  and  very  weak ;"  which  is  in  keeping  with 
the  words  of  Pliny :  "Surrentina  vina  caput  non  tenent." 
"  Surrentine  wine  does  not  affect  the  head."  As  are 
also  the  words  of  Persius,  iii.,  93 : 

"  Lenia  loturo  sibi  Surrentina  rogavit." 
"  He  has  asked  for  himself,  about  to  bathe,  mild  Surrentine." 

Columella  (book  iii.,  cap.  2),  alluding  to  the  weak 
wines  of  Greece,  says:  "Those  small  Greek  wines, 
as  the  Mareotic,  Thasian,  Psythian,  Sophortian, 
though  they  have  a  tolerable  good  taste,  yet,  in  our 
climate,  they  yield  but  little  wine,  from  the  thinness 
of  their  clusters,  and  the  smallness  of  their  berries. 
Nevertheless,  the  black  Inerticula  (the  sluggish  vine), 
which  some  Greeks  call  Amethyston,  may  be  placed, 
as  it  were,  in  the  second  tribe,  because  it  both  yields 
a  good  wine,  and  is  harmless — from  which,  also,  it 
took  its  name — because  it  is  reckoned  dull,  and  not 


ARISTOTLE PLINY.  9  9 

to  have  spirit  enough  to  affect  the  nerves,  though  it 
is  not  dull  and  flat  to  the  taste." 

Speaking  of  sweet  wine,  Aristotle  says  (Meteor., 
lib.  iv.,  cap.  9)  :  "oivog-  S',  6  JASV  yXuxus,  £»o  xai  ou  (xsSutfxsi," 
"that  sweet  wine  would  not  intoxicate." 

There  was  a  Spanish  wine,  says  Pliny  (lib.  xiv., 
cap.  2),  called  "  inerticulam  justius  sobrium,  viribus 
innoxium,  siquidem  temulcntiam  sola  non  facit"  "  a  wine 
which  would  not  intoxicate." 

Pliny  and  Varro  speak  of  a  wine  called  murrina, 
11  a  wine  not  mixed  with  myrrh,  but  a  very  sweet 
aromatic  drink,  much  approved  of  by  Roman  ladies, 
and  conceded  to  them  because  it  would  not  inebriate." 
"Dulcis  nee  inebriens"  are  the  words  of  Varro.  Of 
this  wine  Pliny  also  says  (lib.  xiv.,  cap.  3),  that  it 
would  not  intoxicate. 

Athenaeus  speaks  of  the  "innocent  Chian,"  and  the 
"  unintoxicating  Biblinum,"  and  Plautus  of  the 
"  toothless  Thanium  and  Coan;"  all  of  which  vinous 
beverages  are  comprehended  under  the  term  oinos, 
each  of  which  is  designated  by  that  term ;  and  even 
when  different  kinds  of  wine  are  indicated,  the  same 
name  is  applied  to  more  than  one  kind.  It  is  not 
sufficient,  therefore,  to  say,  "He  drank  Crete  wine," 
for  as  Baccius  affirms,  "Duplex  meminit  vinosum  et 
DULCE  quod  passum  dicit."  It  is  needful,  in  judging 
ancient  wines,  to  attend  to  the  quality  as  well  as  the 
name:  " quia  VINUM  non  temetum,  sed  PASSUM  DULCE, 
permittitur  mulieribus;  dulce  vero  non  inebriens."  Thus 
the  vinosum  temetum,  or  strong  intoxicating  wine,  is 
exhibited  in  contrast  with  the  weak  unintoxicating 


100  ANDREAS   BACCIUS  —  DR.   E.    CLARK. 

wine.  The  one  class  is  spoken  of  as  "potens  vinum" 
powerful  wine;  the  other,  as  having  "nihil  vinosum" 
nothing  vinous. 

"All  Italy,"  says  Andreas  Baccius,  "naturally,  at 
this  time,  abounds  in  wines  and  delights  throughout 
in  sweet  wines,  and  not  less  in  black  wines ;  but 
these  are  altogether  different  from  the  ancient  wines, 
both  in  their  preparation  and  in  their  treatment,  as 
well  as  their  quality,  for  our  sweet,  as  well  as  the 
white  and  black,  intoxicate." 

There  were  wines  which,  without  being  subjected 
to  any  special  treatment,  would,  on  account  of  their 
excess  of  saccharine  matter,  remain  without  ferment 
ing,  in  their  natural  and  unintoxicating  state,  for  a 
great  length  of  time  ;  such,  especially,  were  the  wines 
of  Tenedos. 

Says  Dr.  E.  Clark,  in  his  travels  :  "  Perhaps  there 
is  no  part  of  the  world  where  the  vine  yields  such 
redundant  and  luscious  fruit ;  the  juice  of  the  Cyprian 
grape  resembles  a  concentrated  essence.  The  wine 
of  this  island  is  so  famous  all  over  the  Levant,  that, 
in  the  hyperbolical  language  of  the  Greeks,  it  is  said 
to  have  the  power  of  restoring  youth  to  age,  and 
animation  to  those  who  are  at  the  point  of  death. 
Englishmen,  however,  do  not  consider  it  as  a  favorite 
beverage  ;  it  requires  near  a  century  of  age  to  deprive 
it  of  that  sickly  sweetness  which  renders  it  repug 
nant  to  their  palates." 

"  When  it  has  remained  in  bottles  for  ten  or  twelve 
years,  it  acquires  a  slight  degree  of  fermentation 
upon  exposure  to  the  air;  and  this,  added  to  its 


DE.   E.    CLARK  —  CALMET.  101 

sweetness  and  high  color,  causes  it  to  resemble 
Tokay  more  than  any  other  wine ;  but  the  Cypriote 
do  not  drink  it  in  this  state  ;  it  is  preserved  by  them 
in  casks  to  which  the  air  has  constantly  access,  and 
will  keep  in  this  manner  for  any  number  of  years. 
After  it  has  withstood  the  vicissitudes  of  the  seasons 
for  a  single  year,  it  is  supposed  to  have  passed  the 
requisite  proof,  and  then  it  sells  for  three  Turkish 
piastres  a  goose  (about  twenty-one  pints).  After 
wards  the  price  augments  in  proportion  to  its  age. 
We  tasted  some  of  the  Commanderia,  which  they 
said  was  forty  years  old,  although  still  in  the  cask. 
After  this  period  it  is  considered  as  a  balm,  and 
reserved  on  the  account  of  its  supposed  restorative 
and  healing  quality  for  the  sick  and  dying.  A  greater 
proof  of  its  strength  cannot  be  given,  than  by  relating 
the  manner  in  which  it  is  kept — in  casks  neither 
filled  nor  closed.  A  piece  of  sheet  lead  is  merely 
laid  over  the  bung  hole,  and  this  is  removed  every 
day  when  customers  visit  their  cellars  to  taste  the 
different  sorts  of  wine  proposed  for  sale." 

Even  in  wines  expressed  from  less  luscious  grapes, 
wine  could  be,  and  often  was  produced,  that  would 
remain  permanently  sweet  and  unintoxicating. 

Calmet  informs  us,  that  "the  ancients  had  the 
secret  of  preserving  wine  sweet  throughout  the 
year  ;"  and  Plutarch  records,  that  "  before  the  time 
of  Psammetticus,  the  Egyptians  neither  drank  fer 
mented  wine,  nor  used  it  in  their  offerings."  And 
there  are  writers  who  inform  us  how  the  preservation 
of  wine  sweet  throughout  the  year  might  be  effected. 

NOTT.  *9 


102  COLUMELLA  —  DIDYMUS  —  SUIDAS. 

Says  Columella  (lib.  xii.,  chap.  27) :  "  De  vino  dulcl 
faciendo :"  "  Gather  the  grapes,  and  expose  them  for 
three  days  to  the  sun  ;  on  the  fourth,  at  midday,  tread 
them ;  take  the  mustum  lixivium,  that  is,  the  juice 
which  flows  into  the  lake  before  you  use  the  press, 
and  when  it  has  cooled,  add  one  ounce  of  pounded 
iris,  strain  the  wine  from  its  faeces,  and  pour  it  into 
a  vessel.  This  wine  will  be  sweet,  firm  or  durable, 
and  healthful  to  the  body." 

Says  Didymus  (lib.  vii.,  cap.  18):  "  In  Bythinia, 
some  persons  thus  make  sweet  wine  :  Thirty  days 
before  the  vintage,  they  twist  the  twigs  which  bear 
the  clusters,  and  strip  off  the  foliage,  so  that  (the 
rays  of)  the  sun  striking  down,  may  dry  up  the 
moisture  (sap),  and  make  the  wine  sweet,  just  as  we 
do  by  boiling.  They  twist  the  twigs  for  this  reason, 
(viz.) :  that  they  may  withdraw  the  clusters  from  the 
sap  and  nourishment  of  the  vine,  so  that  they  may 
no  longer  receive  any  moisture  ( sap )  from  it.  Some 
persons,  after  they  have  bared  the  bunches  from  the 
leaves,  and  the  grapes  begin  to  wrinkle,  gather  them 
together  in  the  clusters,  and  expose  them  to  the  sun, 
until  they  have  all  become  uvapassa  ( rasins ) .  Lastly, 
they  take  them  up  when  the  sun  is  at  the  hottest 
point,  carry  them  to  the  upper  press,  and  leave  them 
there  the  rest  of  the  day,  and  the  whole  of  the  fol 
lowing  night,  and  about  daylight  they  tread  them." 

Suidas  calls  "  /Xsuxoj,"  which  is  said  to  be  mustum, 
vinum,  et  succus  dulcis,  must,  wine  and  a  sweet  juice, 

"<ro    atfotfTaypa,     Trig     tf<ra(pi)X>j£     tfpiv     tfarrj^r],"    the    Wine 

"  that  dropped  from  the  grape  before  it  was  trodden." 


EXPEDIENTS   TO   PREVENT   FERMENTATION.      103 

Mr.  Buckingham  says  that  wine  in  Smyrna  is 
called  "  the  droppings  of  the  wine  press,"  and  "  vir 
gin  wine." 

According  to  Pliny,  Protropum  was  "  mustum  quod 
sponte profluit  antequam  uva  calcentur"  the  "  must  which 
flows  spontaneously  from  the  grapes  before  they  have 
been  trodden." 

These  rich,  slightly  fermented,  unintoxicating 
wines  were  not  only  held  in  peculiar  estimation 
among  the  ancients,  but  by  them  various  expedients 
were  adopted,  not  to  increase,  but  to  diminish  the 
production  of  alcohol,  by  arresting  the  process  of  fer 
mentation  in  their  other  and  less  luscious  wines,  among 
which  expedients  were  the  EXCLUSION  OF  AIR,  AND 
THE  REDUCTION  OF  TEMPERATURE,  THE  EVAPORATION 
OF  CONTAINED  WATER,  AND  THE  ABSORPTION  OF  THE 
CONTAINED  OXYGEN. 

1st.  THE  EXCLUSION  OF  AIR,  AND  THE  REDUCTION  OF 
TEMPERATURE,  FOR  THE  PURPOSE  OF  PREVENTING 
THE  PRODUCTION  OF  ALCOHOL,  BY  ARRESTING  THE 
PROCESS  OF  FERMENTATION. 

It  was  a  well  known  fact  that  air  and  a  certain 
degree  of  heat  were  requisite  to  fermentation,  and  it 
was  also  a  well  known  fact  that  wines  were  less  liable 
to  run  into  the  vinous  fermentation,  after  they  had 
been  kept  a  considerable  length  of  time  in  an  unfer- 
mented  state. 

Hence  the  Romans  were  accustomed  to  put  the 
new  wine  into  jars,  which,  being  well  stopped,  new 
ones  being  preferred,  were  then  immersed  for  several 


104  FERMENTATION  PREVENTED  BY  EVAPORATION. 

weeks  in  a  cistern  or  pond  ;  in  fact,  as  the  wine  was 
made  about  September  and  October,  they  were  some 
times  allowed  to  remain  immersed  during  the  whole 
of  the  winter,  until,  as  Pliny  naively  observes,  "  the 
wine  had  acquired  the  habit  of  being  cold."  Some 
times  the  same  object  was  effected  by  the  cask  being 
buried  deep  under  ground.* 

Says  Columella  (lib.  xii.,  cap.  29),  "  quemadmodum 
mustum  semper  dulce  tanquam  recens  permaneat :"  "  that 
your  must  may  be  always  as  sweet  as  it  is  new,  thus 
proceed :  before  you  apply  the  press  to  the  fruit, 
take  the  newest  must  from  the  lake,  put  it  into  a  new 
amphora,  bung  it  up,  and  cover  it  very  carefully  with 
pitch,  lest  any  water  should  enter;  then  immerse  it 
in  a  cistern  or  pond  of  pure  cold  water,  and  allow  no 
part  of  the  amphora  to  remain  above  the  surface. 
After  forty  days,  take  it  out,  and  it  will  remain  sweet 
for  a  year." 

2d.  THE  EVAPORATION  OF  THE  CONTAINED  WATER  FOR 
THE  PURPOSE  OF  PREVENTING  THE  PRODUCTION  OF 
ALCOHOL,  BY  ARRESTING  THE  PROCESS  OF  FERMEN 
TATION. 

It  is  conceded  by  modern  chemists  generally,  it 
is  believed,  that  the  ancients  were  correct  in  the 
opinion,  that  a  certain  degree  of  fluidity  is  essential 
to  fermentation. 

When  grape  juice  is  very  weak  and  watery,  boil 
ing  may  indeed,  by  increasing  the  relative  proportion 

*  Pliny's  Natural  History,  lib.  xiv.,  chap.  9-. 


BOERHAAVE  —  ARISTOTLE  —  DEMOCRITUS.        105 

of  the  saccharine  matter,  facilitate  the  process  of 
fermentation.  But  where  the  requisite  fluidity,  and 
the  requisite  proportions  between  the  barm  or  yeast 
and  the  saccharine  matter  already  exist,  boiling  will 
obstruct  or  prevent  fermentation. 

Says  Boerhaave  :  "  By  boiling,  the  juice  of  the 
richest  grapes  loses  all  its  aptitude  for  fermentation, 
and  may  afterwards  be  preserved  for  years  without 
undergoing  any  further  change." 

Says  Newman:  "It  is  observable,  that  when  thick 
juices  are  boiled  down  to  a  thick  consistence,  they 
not  only  do  not  ferment  in  that  state,  but  are  not 
easily  brought  into  fermentation  when  diluted  with 
as  much  water  as  they  had  lost  in  the  evaporation, 
or  even  with  the  very  individual  water  that  had 
exhaled  from  them.  Thus  sundry  sweet  liquors  are 
preserved  for  a  length  of  time  by  boiling.  From 
these  considerations,  it  is  probable  that  the  qualities 
for  which  the  Romans  and  Greeks  valued  their  wines 
were  very  different  from  those  sought  after  in  the 
present  day ;  and  that  they  contained  much  saccha 
rine  matter  and  but  little  alcohol.'' 

Says  Aristotle  :  "  The  wine  of  Arcadia  was  so  thick 
that  it  was  necessary  to  scrape  it  from  the  skin  bot 
tles  in  which  it  was  contained,  and  to  dissolve  the 
scrapings  in  water." 

Says  Democritus  :  "  The  Lacedaemonians,  s\s  TO  rrup 

gWO*!  TOV  0/VOV,    I&J£  OtV  TO  tfEjUKTOV  fA£pO£  a<J>£  •sj^S'y]  XOU  fASTCt  TS(f- 

rfapa  ITTJ  xpuvrai,  were  accustomed  to  boil  their  wine 
upon  the  fire  until  the  fifth  part  had  been  consumed. 
It  was  drunk  after  a  period  of  four  years  had  elapsed." 


106   PREPARATIONS  INCLUDED  UNDER  TERM  WINE. 

Says  Pliny:  "musto  usque  ad  tertiam  partem  mensurce 
decocto  ;  quod  ubi  factum  ad  dimidiam  est,  defrutum  voca- 
mus."* 

The  practice  of  boiling  wine  was  and  still  is  pre 
valent  among  the  Asiatics.  To  the  existence  and 
prevalence  of  this  practice,  Dr.  Bowring  bears  testi 
mony.  Among  the  boiled  wines  spoken  of  by  the 
ancient  writers,  are  Sapa,  Defrutum,  Sirceum  and 
Hepsima. 

These  wines  are  very  similar,  and  the  chief  dif 
ference  between  them  appears  to  consist  in  the  degree 
to  which  they  were  severally  reduced.  The  derivation 
of  sapa  may  have  been,  perhaps,  from  the  Hebrew 
sobhe,  as  sirceum  may  have  been  from  the  Hebrew  syr, 
caldron,  in  which  the  process  of  boiling  was  per 
formed. 

Fabbroni,  an  Italian  writer,  treating  of  Jewish 
husbandry,  says :  "  The  palm  trees,  also,  which 
especially  abounded  in  the  neighborhood  of  Jericho 
and  Engaddi,  served  to  make  a  very  sweet  wine, 
which  is  made  all  over  the  East,  being  called  lpalm 
wine1  by  the  Latins,  and  *  syrd*  in  India,  from  the 
Persian  shir,  which  means  '  luscious  liquor  or  drink.' " 

These  preparations  are  all  distinctly  included  under 
the  class  o/vos,  wines.  In  deciding,  therefore,  concern 
ing  ancient  wines,  it  is  necessary  to  consider  the 
quality,  as  well  as  the  name,  because,  as  Baccius 
informs  us,  "  duplex  memimt  et  dulce  quodpassum  dicit  /' 
and  hence  as  another  ancient  writer  says:  "  Quia 


Pliny's  Natural  History,  cap.  ix. 


FERMENTATION  PEE  VENTED  BY  OXYGEN.   107 

vinum  non  TEMETUM  se d  passum  dulce  permittitur  mutieri- 

bus  —  DULCE  VERO  NON  INEBRIANS." 

3d.  ABSORPTION  OF  THE  CONTAINED  OXYGEN,  FOR 
THE  PURPOSE  OF  PREVENTING  THE  FORMATION  OF 
ALCOHOL,  BY  ARRESTING  THE  PROCESS  OF  FER 
MENTATION. 

Says  C.  Reading  in  his  history  and  description  of 
modern  wines,  p.  41 :  "  Its  object  (sulphurization)  is 
to  impart  to  wine  clearness  and  the  principle  of  pre 
servation,  and  to  prevent  fermentation." 

Says  Dr.  Ure  :  "  Fermentation  may  be  tempered 
or  stopped  by  those  means  which  render  the  yeast 
inoperative,  particularly  by  the  oils  that  contain 
sulphur,  as  oil  of  mustard ;  as  also  by  the  sulphurous 
and  sulphuric  acids.  The  operation  of  sulphurous 
acid,  in  obstructing  the  fermentation  of  must,  con 
sists  partly,  no  doubt,  in  its  absorbing  oxygen, 
whereby  the  elimination  of  the  yeasty  particles  is 
prevented.  The  sulphurous  acid,  moreover,  acts 
more  powerfully  upon  fermenting  liquors  that  contain 
tartar,  as  grape  juice,  than  sulphuric  acid.  This 
acid  decomposes  the  tartaric  salts ;  combining  with 
their  bases,  sets  the  vegetable  acids  free,  which  does 
not  interfere  with  the  fermentation,  but  the  sulpu- 
rous  acid  operates  directly  upon  the  yeast." 

In  the  London  Encyclopedia,  "  stum"  is  termed 
an  unfermented  wine  ;  to  prevent  it  from  fermenting, 
the  casks  are  matched,  or  have  brimstone  burnt  in 
them.  Sulphur  is  placed  among  the  antiferments 
mentioned  by  Donovan. 


108  SULPHURIZATION. 

Says  Count  Dandolo,  on  the  art  of  making  and 
preserving  of  the  wines  of  Italy,  first  published  at 
Milan,  1812 :  "  The  last  process  in  wine  making  is 
sulphurization  ;  its  object  is  to  secure  the  most  long 
continued  preservation  of  all  wines,  even  of  the  very 
commonest  sort.  The  classifications  (spoken  of  in  a 
former  section )  tend  to  assist  this  keeping  of  wines  ; 
but  sulphurization,  or  the  application  of  sulphur 
(sulphurous  acid)  to  the  wine,  is  that  process  which 
more  directly  attacks  that  pernicious  fermenting 
principle,  in  the  very  bowels  of  the  wine  itself  (if 
such  an  expression  maybe  allowed),  and  destroys  its 
power  of  mischief.  The  action  of  this  vapor  of  sul 
phur  not  only  neutralizes,  changes  and  destroys  the 
fermenting  principle  existing  as  yet  undeveloped  in 
the  must  fresh  pressed  from  the  grape,  leaving  un 
touched  the  saccharine  part,  but  it  operates  equally 
upon  the  quantity  of  ferment  remaining  in  the  wine 
which  has  already  undergone  fermentation."  "  This 
process  shows  the  effect  ot  sulphurization  to  annihi 
late  entirely  the  power  of  the  fermenting  principle 
in  the  wine,  and  even  in  the  must,  without  ever 
changing  the  sugary  substance  in  the  must,  or  the 
alcohol  in  the  wine."  By  this  means,  a  sound  wine, 
though  on  the  very  point  of  changing,  and  a  wine 
which  could  not  be  carried  twenty  miles  without 
becoming  muddy,  or  being  spoiled,  after  clarification 
or  sulphurization,  is  in  a  state  for  keeping  a  hundred 
years,  and  will  bear  the  motion  of  a  long  journey. 

And  not  only  is  it  the  rich  and  generous  wines, 
such  as  the  well  known  ones  of  Bordeaux,  which  by 


ALCOHOL   DISSIPATED   BY   ANCIENTS.  109 

sulphurization  can  be  rendered  capable  of  long  keep 
ing  and  bearing  a  journey,  but  even  the  very  lightest 
wines,  like  those  of  Burgundy,  are  equally  influenced 
by  it,  and  become  fit  for  exportation  or  removal  to 
distant  places. 

Sulphurization,  then,  not  only  leaves  untouched 
the  alcohol  which  may  be  already  existing,  and  the 
aromatic  principles  of  the  wine,  but  when  a  wine 
that  has  been  sulphurized  contains  any  sugary  matter 
not  decomposed,  that  sugary  matter  continues  per 
fectly  untouched,  in  consequence  of  the  ferment 
(which  would  have  converted  it  into  spirit)  being 
neutralized  by  the  sulphurization. 

The  ancients  were  aware  that  the  process  of  fer 
mentation  could  thus  be  arrested,  and  hence  both  the 
interior  and  exterior  of  the  vessels  in  which  the  new 
wine  was  contained,  were  said  to  have  been  covered 
with  gypsum. 

THE  ANCIENTS  USED  MEANS,  AS  WELL  TO  DISSIPATE 
OR  NEUTRALIZE  THE  ALCOHOL,  WHEN  GENERATED, 
IN  THEIR  WINES,  AS  TO  PREVENT  ITS  GENERATION. 

1st.  THE  TEAST  WAS  NOT  ONLY  SEPARATED  FROM 
THE  SACCHARINE  MATTER  BY  SUBSIDENCE,  BUT  THE 
WINE  ITSELF  WAS  PASSED  THROUGH  THE  FILTER. 

Says  Pliny :  "  Ut  plus  capiamus  sacco  franguntur 
vires  ;  et  alia  irritamenta  excogitantur  ;  ac  bibendi  causa 
etiam  venena  corificiuntur"  "  That  we  may  be  able  to 
drink  a  greater  quantity  of  wine,  we  break,  or  deprive 
it  of  its  strength,  &c.,  by  the  filter,  and  various  incen 
tives  to  thirst  are  invented." 

NOTT.  10 


110  WATER   MIXED   WITH   WINE. 

Says  Horace:  "  Liques  vina"  Car.  lib.  i.,  Ode  11. 
On  these  words  the  Delphin  notes  are  as  follows : 
"  Be  careful  to  prepare  for  yourself  wine  percolated, 
and  defoscated  by  the  filter,  and  thus  rendered  sweet 
and  more  in  accordance  to  nature  and  a  female  taste. 
Certainly  the  ancients  strained  and  defoecated  their 
must  through  the  filter  repeatedly  before  they  could 
have  fermented ;  and,  by  this  process,  taking  away 
the  foeces  that  nourish  and  increase  the  strength  of 
the  wine,  they  rendered  them  more  liquid,  weaker, 
lighter  and  sweeter,  and  more  pleasant  to  drink." 

2d.  WHERE  THE  ALCOHOL  GENERATED  BY  FER 
MENTATION  WAS  NOT  SUFFICIENTLY  DISSIPATED  BY 
THE  FILTER  OR  OTHERWISE,  ITS  INFLUENCE  WAS 
COUNTERACTED  BY  THE  ADDITION  OF  WATER. 

Hippocrates  informs  us  that  the  wines  of  the 
ancients  were  divided  into  oXiyopopoj  and  iroXutpopoi,  such 
as  did  and  such  as  did  not  require  dilution  by  water. 

Plutarch  mentions  three  dilutions.  Hesiod  pre 
scribed,  during  the  summer  months,  three  parts  of 
water  to  one  of  wine. 

Athenaeus  has  treated  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
ancients  mingled  their  wines.  He  represents  Archip- 
pus  as  inquiring :  "  Who  of  you  has  mingled  an  equal 
quantity  of  water  with  wine  ?  It  is  far  better  to  use 
one  part  of  wine  and  four  of  water." 

Nichocates  considers  one  part  of  wine  to  five  of 
water  as  the  most  desirable  proportion. 

According  to  Homer,  Pramnian  and  Maronian  wines 
required  twenty  parts  of  water  to  one  of  wire :  and 


ANCIENT    GREEKS.  Ill 

Hippocrates  considered  twenty  parts  of  water  and 
one  of  Thasian  wine  to  be  a  proper  beverage. 

Pliny  declares  that  Maronian  wine,  celebrated  by 
Homer,  had  maintained  its  character ;  for  during  the 
time  of  Mutianus,  their  consul,  each  pint  was  min 
gled  with  eighty  parts  of  water. 

In  the  receipt  for  making  Cato's  family  wine,  the 
vinegar  and  sea-water  greatly  exceeded  the  sapa ; 
and  to  the  grape  juice  was  to  be  added  five  times  its 
quantity  of  pure  water ;  and  from  the  whole  the  air 
was  to  be  excluded  ten  days.  Thus  a  celebrated 
wine  was  produced,  that  would  keep  till  the  follow 
ing  summer  solstice.  What  the  strength  of  such  a 
wine  must  have  been,  and  how  it  would  be  appre 
ciated  by  wine-drinkers  of  our  day,  can  readily  be 
imagined. 

The  ancient  Greeks,  like  the  ancient  Romans,  hea 
thens  though  they  were,  furnished,  by  their  exem 
plary  abstemiousness,  a  severe  rebuke  to  modern 
Christians.  Their  festivals  were  schools  of  tempe 
rance  and  sobriety.  The  wines  used  on  these  occa 
sions  were  invariably  mixed  with  water.  None  other 
were  allowed.  Indeed,  in  reputable  society,  the 
practice  of  mingling  their  wine  with  water  was  uni 
versal. 

Those  ancient  authors,  who  treat  upon  domestic 
manners,  abound  with  allusions  to  this  usage.  Hot 
water,  tepid  water,  or  cold  water,  was  used  for  the 
dilution  of  wines,  according  to  the  season. 

The  process  was  common,  and  reduced  to  system. 
"Sometimes  they  were  so  luxurious  as  to  mix  their 


112  ANCIENT    GREEKS. 

wine  with  hot  water,  so  as  to  secure  perfect  combi 
nation,  and  then  cool  it  down  with  ice  or  snow.  In 
Italy  the  habit  was  so  universally  diffused,  that  there 
was  an  establishment  at  Rome  for  the  public  sale  of 
water  for  mixing  it  with  wine. 

It  was  called  Thermopolium,  and,  from  the 
accounts  left  of  it,  was  upon  a  large  scale.  The 
remains  of  several  have  been  discovered  among  the 
ruins  of  Pompeii.  Cold,  warm  and  tepid  water  was 
procurable  at  these  establishments,  as  well  as  wine ; 
and  the  inhabitants  resorted  there  for  the  purpose  of 
drinking,  and  also  sent  their  servants  for  the  water. 
The  fact  of  the  practice  being  interwoven  with  the 
daily  habits  of  the  Greeks,  may  be  judged  from  the 
circumstance  of  the  Greek  term  for  bowl  or  goblet : 
•^arrjp  (quasi  xspotT^p) — literally  implying  "a  min- 
gler,"  being  derived  from  a  verb  signifying  "to 
mingle."  Each  nation,  as  already  shown,  had  its 
peculiar  terms  for  inspissated  wines  which  required 
mingling,  as  sapa,  caranum,  sirczum,  and  hepscma ; 
each,  too,  had  its  peculiar  term  to  denote  wine  not 
yet  mingled,  as  the  Greek  axpafov,  the  Latin  mcrum  — 
( tirosh  lo  yayin.) 

Nor  was  it  peculiar  to  pagans  to  mingle  water  with 
wine  for  beverage  and  at  feasts  ;  nor  to  profane  wri 
ters  to  record  the  fact.  It  is  written  of  wisdom,  not 
only,  that  she  had  killed  her  fat  things,  but  also  that 
she  had  mingled  her  wine ;  and  so  written  by  an 
inspired  penman. 

But  what  gives  the  greater  weight  to  the  inference 
to  be  drawn  from  these  usages  of  the  ancients  is, 


WEAKEST   WINE    CONSIDERED    BEST.  113 

that  they  not  only  resorted  to  expedients  to  prevent 
the  generation  of  alcohol,  and  to  dissipate  it  when 
generated : 

But  that  THEY  ALSO  PRONOUNCED  THAT  THE  BET 
TER  WINE  IN  WHICH  THE  GENERATION  OF  ALCOHOL 

HAD  BEEN   THE    MOST   EFFECTUALLY   PREVENTED OR 

HAVING  BEEN  GENERATED,  WHERE  IT  HAD  BEEN  MOST 
EFFECTUALLY  DISSIPATED,  OR  ITS  POTENCY  OTHERWISE 
COUNTERACTED  OR  DESTROYED. 

Says  Pliny :  "  Utilissimum  oinum  omnibus  sacco  viri- 
bus  fractis"  The  most  useful  wine  is  that  which  has 
its  strength  broken  or  destroyed  by  the  filter,  "  invc- 
terari  vina  saccisque  castrari"  and  again,  "  Minus 
tnfestat  nervos  quod  vetustate  dulcescit"  "  Wines  which 
become  sweet  by  age  are  less  injurious  to  the  nerves." 
"  Wines  were  rendered  old,  and  deprived  of  their 
vigor  by  filtering."  lib.  xxiii.,  chap.  1. 

The  same  author  mentions,  (lib.  xiv.,  chap.  2)  a 
wine  called  inerticulam,  Justus  sobriam,  viribus  innoziam, 
siquidem  temulcntiam  sola  nonfacit;  a  wine  which  would 
not  intoxicate,  iners,  without  spirit,  more  properly 
termed,  "  sober  wine,"  harmless,  "  and  which  alone 
would  not  inebriate." 

Columella  speaks  (lib.  iii.,  chap.  2)  of  a  wine 
called  "  Amethyston,"  unintoxicating.  He  adds, 
that  it  was  "a  good  wine — harmless" — and  called 
"  iners11 — weak — and  would  not  affect  the  nerves. 

'*  Be  careful,"  says  the  Delphin  Notes  on  Horace's 
llth  Ode,  "  to  prepare  for  yourself  wine  percolated, 
and  defoecated  by  the  filter,  and  thus  rendered  sweet, 
NOTT.  *10 


114  TESTIMONY. 

and  more  in  accordance  to  nature- — and  a  female 
taste." 

Theophrastus  called  wine  that  had  been  "  castra- 
tum"  deprived  of  its  strength,  "  ^jxou,"  "moral 
wine."  Nor  Theophrastus  only.  The  ancients,  when 
speaking  of  wine  deprived  of  its  potency,  use  the 
terms,  "  eunuchum"  "  effaminatum"  "  castratum" 
The  corresponding  Hebrew  word  is  even  used  by 
Isaiah,  i.,  22,  when  speaking  of  wine  reduced  by 
water. 

Polybius,  in  a  fragment  of  his  6th  book,  states: 
"  Among  the  Eomans  the  women  were  forbidden  to 
drink  wine ;  they  drank  a  wine  which  is  called  pas- 
sum  (Latine,  Passum),  and  this  was  made  from  dried 
grapes  or  raisins.  As  a  drink,  it  very  much  resem 
bled  ^Egosthenian  and  Cretan  (^Xsuxo^),  sweet  wine, 
and  which  is  used  for  the  purpose  of  allaying  thirst." 

Both  Pliny  and  Yarro  treat  of  wine  which  was 
conceded  to  Roman  ladies,  because  it  did  not  inebriate. 

Says  Plutarch  (in  his  Sympos ) :  "  Wine  is  rendered 
old  or  feeble  in  strength  when  it  is  frequently  fil 
tered  ;  this  percolation  makes  it  more  pleasant  to  the 
palate  ;  the  strength  of  the  wine  is  thus  taken  away, 
without  any  injury  to  its  pleasing  flavor.  The 
strength  being  thus  withdrawn  or  excluded,  the  wine 
neither  inflames  the  head  nor  infests  the  mind  and 
the  passions,  but  is  much  more  pleasant  to  drink. 
Doubtless  defoecation  takes  away  the  spirit  of  potency 
that  torments  the  head  of  the  drinker ;  and  this  being 
removed,  the  wine  is  reduced  to  a  state  both  mild, 
salubrious  and  wholesome." 


UNINTOXICATING   WINES.  115 

That  unintoxicating  as  well  as  intoxicating  wines 
existed  from  remote  antiquity,  and  that  the  former 
were  held  in  higher  estimation  than  the  latter,  by  the 
wise  and  good,  there  can,  I  think,  be  no  reasonable 
doubt.  The  evidence  is  unequivocal  and  plenary. 
Not  indeed  that  the  wines  in  use  in  Syria  or  the 
Holy  Land  were  universally  or  even  generally  unin 
toxicating.  We  have  demonstrative  evidence  that 
they  are  not  so  now,  and  presumptive  evidence  that 
they  were  not  so  formerly.  We  know  that  then,  as 
now,  inebriety  existed ;  and  then,  as  now,  the  taste 
for  inebriating  wines  may  have  been  the  prevalent 
taste ;  and  intoxicating  wines  the  prevalent  wines. 
Still,  unintoxicating  wines  existed,  and  there  were 
men  who  preferred  such  wines,  and  who  have  left 
on  record  the  avowal  of  that  preference.  That  these 
men  were  comparatively  few  in  number,  and  that  the 
wines  they  recommended  w^ere  not  generally  in 
request,  does  not  surely  render  it  the  less  probable 
that  they  were  wines  deserving  commendation.  It 
might  then  as  now,  and,  in  reference  to  this  as  well 
as  other  questions  of  right  and  duty,  be  said : 

"  Broad  is  the  road  that  leads  to  death, 
And  thousands  walk  together  there ; 
While  wisdom  shows  a  narrow  path, 
With  here  and  there  a  traveler." 

From  the  foregoing  examination,  it  is  apparent 
that  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  in  the  state  it  exists  in  the 
vat,  the  vineyard  and  the  cluster,  is  called  in  the 
original  by  the  sacred  writers  of  the  Old  Testament, 
tirosk,  yayin,  aitsis,  hhemer,  &c.,  that  in  the  Greek 


116  TERMS   USED    IN   OLD   TESTAMENT. 

translation  of  these  terms  by  the  Seventy,  it  is  called 
oinon,  in  the  Latin  translation,  vinum,  and  in  the  Eng 
lish,  wine.  And  it  is  further  apparent  that  the  fruit 
of  the  vine,  in  the  same  state,  is  called  by  the  same 
name  by  profane  writers  ;  hence  we  meet  in  Aristotle 
with  (oinon),  wine  of  the  vat ;  in  Livy,  with  (vinum), 
wine  of  the  field  ;  and  in  Cato  as  well  as  Isaiah,  with 
(vinum  pendens),  wine  of  the  cluster;  and  hence,  also, 
when  we  do  so  meet  with  these  terms,  though  the 
presumption  will  be  that  they  refer  to  the  fruit  of 
the  vine  in  some  state,  it  can  only  be  determined  in 
which  by  considering  the  attendant  circumstances; 
and  for  the  obvious  reason,  that  the  terms  yayin,  oinos, 
and  vinum,  are  generic  terms,  and  embrace  in  their 
comprehensive  meaning  the  fruit  of  the  vine  or  pure 
blood  of  the  grape,  in  all  of  the  states  in  which  it 
exists. 

But  whatever  question  may  be  raised  about  the 
quality  of  other  kinds  of  wine,  there  can  be  no  ques 
tion  about  this  pendent  wine  of  Cato ;  for  it  is  the 
wine  of  the  cluster  of  Isaiah.  This  wine  must  be 
good  wine,  for  it  is  wine  approved  of  God ;  and  there 
was,  as  we  have  seen,  a  time  when  it  was  approved 
of  man  also ;  and  however  it  may  now  be  spoken 
against,  we  believe  it  still  to  be  not  the  less  worthy 
of  commendation  on  that  account,  because  we  believe 
it  still  to  be  what  it  then  was  (in  the  sense  in  which 
we  use  the  terms),  unintoxicating  wine.  Not  that  we 
affirm  the  pure  blood  of  the  grape,  as  expressed  from 
the  ripened  cluster,  to  have  been  always  absolutely 
unaffected  by  fermentation,  but  only  slightly  and 


QUESTION  NOT  OF  DEGREE  BUT  OF  TOTALITY.      117 

insensibly  affected  by  it.*  In  olden  time,  wine,  as  we 
believe,  was  appreciated  not  as  now,  according  to  its 
strength,  but  according  to  its  weakness. 


*  The  admission  in  Dr.  Nott's  Lectures,  that  there  may  perhaps  be 
a  very  slight  degree  of  alcohol,  even  in  the  wine  allowed  and  pro 
nounced  good  by  the  Bible,  gave  offence  to  many  sincere  friends  of 
temperance,  when  they  were  first  published;  and  several  able  and 
esteemed  advocates  of  the  cause  felt  it  their  duty  to  repudiate  and 
condemn  it  as  a  needless  and  injurious  concession.  This  matter  has 
been  referred  to  the  author,  with  reference  to  the  publication  of  this 
new  edition  of  his  Lectures,  and  we  learn  that  after  carefully  and 
candidly  examining  the  whole  of  this  criticism,  he  still  does  not  feel 
it  to  be  his  duty  to  suppress  or  alter  the  text.  And  certainly  no 
such  liberties  would  be  warrantable  in  the  Editor.  He  will  have  dis 
charged  his  duty,  after  advertising  the  reader  that  this  is  debatable 
ground,  on  which  equally  honest-  advocates  of  temperance  truth 
maintain  conflicting  opinions. 

There  is  a  question  of  science,  involved  in  this  discussion,  which  is 
still  an  unsettled  one.  It  is  well  settled,  indeed,  that  of  the  three 
stages  of  fermentation  (vinous,  acetous  and  putrefactive  ),  alcohol  is 
the  product  of  the  first.  But  when  it  has  reached  that  stage,  and 
therefore  when  alcohol  enters  into  the  expressed  juice  of  the  grape, 
is  still  undecided.  One  chemist  has  said  that  if  the  must  is  exposed 
to  the  air.  for  a  few  seconds  only,  it  absorbs  oxygen,  and  fermenta 
tion  takes  place.  Others  have  given  the  opinion  that  a  much  longer 
time  must  elapse  before  the  composition  and  quality  of  the  liquid 
can  be  said  to  be  tinged  by  the  admission  of  alcohol.  One  of  the 
latest  writers,  the  author  of  the  "  Chemistry  of  Common  Life"  (see 
Vol.  I.,  p.  262),  would  seem  to  hold  that  no  "  sensible  quantity  of 
alcohol"  had  been  found  in  the  body  of  the  liquid  until  the  lapse 
of  "  three  hours"  of  ordinary  summer  weather.  But  we  do  not 
understand  that  either  of  these  views  are  advanced  as  matured  scien 
tific  opinions,  and  the  result  of  actual  experiments.  We  regard 
the  point  in  hand,  therefore,  to  be  still  an  open  question  of  science. 
to  be  hereafter  determined  by  scientific  men. 

The  most  accurate  writers  and  speakers  on  Temperance,  when  they 
reason  from  the  Bible,  in  connection  with  wines  ( the  products  of 


118  QUESTION  NOT  OF  DEGREE  BUT  OF  TOTALITY. 

I  am  aware  that  there  are  those  who  consider  the 
question  of  fermentation  in  wine  A  QUESTION  NOT  OF 

DEGREE  BUT  OF  TOTALITY. 


the  brew-house  and  distillery  are  inventions  sought  out  by  man 
since  the  canon  of  Scripture  closed),  recognize  this  as  a  question 
still  in  dispute.  They  do  not  speak  of  the  good  and  bad  wine  of  the 
Bible,  as  alcoholic  and  non-alcoholic,  nor  as  fermented  and  unfer- 
mented,  but  as  intoxicating  and  unintoxicating  ;  the  unintoxicating 
being  clearly  the  good  wine  of  the  Bibte,  and  the  intoxicating  being 
clearly  the  bad. 

As  this  point  is  an  unsettled  question  in  the  science  of  temperance, 
so  we  regard  these  views  in  Dr.  Nott's  Lectures  as  among  the  disputed 
questions  in  its  ethics  and  philosophy,  which  are  to  be  cleared  up  by 
future  inquiry  and  discussion. 

But  let  it  be  observed,  even  by  those  who  regard  this  admission  by 
the  author  as  gratuitous,  and  unfortunate,  that  his  Lectures  else 
where  contend  for  abstinence,  not  only  from  intoxicating,  alcoholic 
and  fermented  wine,  but  also  from  the  freshly  expressed  juice  of  the 
grape.  So  that,  if  the  author  here  is  in  error,  he  has  not  left  the 
reader  entirely  without  an  antidote.  In  the  closing  paragraph  of  the 
fourth  lecture,  he  says : 

"  Still  it  does  not  follow  that  even  the  pure  blood  of  the  grape  should  now  be 
used  by  us  as  a  beverage  The  circumstances  of  society  (since  the  grant  to  Jacob) 
have  changed ;  distillation  has  been  discovered;  chemistry  has  mixed  new  poisons 
with  the  wine  cup ;  and,  to  save  the  church  and  the  world  from  ruin,  it  has  become 
necessary,  and  it  is,  therefore,  as  we  have  already  said,  incumbent  on  us,  in  the 
spirit  of  the  first  law  of  Christian  love,  wholly  to  abstain  from  the  use  of  vinou* 
beverage  of  every  sort," 

Whatever  fault  may  be  found,  therefore,  with  these  particular  pas 
sages  in  Dr.  Nott's  Lectures,  their  general  tenor,  it  will  be  seen, 
teaches  temperance  doctrine  which  is  sufficiently  comprehensive  and 
severe.  And  it  is  supported  by  an  argument  so  authoritative  and 
conclusive,  that  it  must  ever  silence  all  cavillers  at  Abstinence,  who 
are  not  bold  enough  also  to  question  the  inspiration  of  Scripture : 
"  It  is  good  neither  to  eat  flesh,  NOR  TO  DRINK  WINK,  nor  anything 
whereby  thy  brother  stumbleth,  or  is  offended,  or  is  made  weak." 
—  Romans,  xiv.,  21 


QUESTION  NOT  OF  DEGREE  BUT  OF  TOTALITY.  119 

Pure  alcohol,  say  they,  is  poison ;  and  because  it 
is  so,  every  beverage  in  which  alcohol  is  contained, 
how  minute  soever  the  quantity,  must  be  poison 
also.  This,  though  plausable,  is  not  conclusive  ;  and 
were  it  so,  the  water  we  drink,  nay,  the  very  air  we 
breathe,  would  be  poison  ;  for  oxygen  and  nitrogen, 
of  which  it  is  composed,  are  so  ;  and  so  is  every  mix 
ture  of  the  two  in  any  other  proportions  than  the 
proportion  in  wThich  the  God  of  nature  has  united 
them  in  the  vital  air ;  and  yet,  when  so  united,  they 
are  breathed  not  only  with  impunity,  but  of  necessity, 
as  an  essential  element  of  life.  In  like  manner, 
though  alcohol  be  poison,  and  though  every  mixture 
of  it  in  any  greater  proportion  than  that  in  which 
God  has  united  it  with  those  other  elements  in  the 
"  pure  blood  of  the  grape,"  may  also  be  poison,  it  does 
not  follow,  if  so  united,  it  must  be  so. 

On  the  contrary,  the  beverage  thus  formed  may  be 
not  only  innocuous,  but  nutritious  and  renovating,  as 
the  noble  Canaro  found  it  when  he  drank  the  fresh 
new  wine  of  the  recent  vintage ;  and  yet  this  same 
beverage,  so  bland  and  healthful,  while  its  original 


Nature  and  Science  unite,  with  a  thousand  tongues,  to  plead  for 
and  enforce  the  doctrines  of  Total  Abstinence.  But  if,  through  lack 
of  sufficient  knowledge  or  the  imperfections  of  human  reason,  the 
principle  is  ever  for  a  moment  involved  in  doubt,  we  have  only  to 
fall  back  upon  this  sublime  saying  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  and  which  is 
accepted  by  the  whole  Christian  world.  Here,  at  least,  our  author 
plants  his  feet  on  ground  which  is  incontestable,  and  as  firm  as  the 
everlasting  hills.  Nay,  it  is  easier  for  heaven  and  earth  to  pass  away 
than  one  tittle  of  the  law  to  fail. — [  EDITOR.  ] 


120     ALCOHOL  IN  NEW  WINE  INNOCCUOUS. 

elemental  proportions  are  maintained,  may  increase 
in  potency,  as  its  contained  alcohol  is  increased  by 
progressive  fermentation,  till,  changed  in  its  nature, 
it  becomes  what  the  Bible  significantly  calls  it,  a 
11  mocker ;"  executing  on  those  who  drink  it  a  ven 
geance  which  the  Bible  no  less  significantly  describes, 
by  comparing  it  to  the  bite  of  the  serpent  and  the 
sting  of  the  adder. 

It  is  urged,  I  am  aware,  that  these  terms,  and  terms 
like  these,  when  applied  to  wine  of  some  sort,  are  to 
be  understood  not  as  conveying  counsel  to  refrain 
from  the  use  of  bad  wine,  but  merely  to  avoid  excess 
in  the  use  of  good.  But  according  to  what  principle 
of  interpretation  is  this  urged  ?  Is  wine,  in  distinc 
tion  from  all  the  other  bounties  of  Providence,  always 
of  good  quality,  that  wine  of  bad  quality  should 
never  have  been  spoken  against  by  any  writer,  either 
sacred  or  profane  ?  And,  as  if  this  were  proven  to 
be  the  case,  are  we  bound,  contrary  to  experience, 
contrary  to  reason,  contrary  to  express  declarations 
of  Scripture,  when  we  meet  with  passages  in  which 
wine  is  spoken  of  in  terms  of  reprobation,  and  as  a 
base  article  and  an  article  to  be  avoided;  are  we 
bound  in  such  cases,  in  disregard  both  of  the  spirit 
and  the  letter  of  the  text,  to  understand  the  terms 
employed,  not  as  implying  the  avoidance  of  a  bad 
article,  but  merely  as  a  caution  against  the  abuse  of 
a  good  one  ? 

Or,  if  bad  wine  as  well  as  good  wine  exists,  then 
it  may  be  asked  whether  good  wine,  among  all  the 
good  creatures  of  God,  is  alone  liable  to  abuse,  that 


GOOD  WINE  LIABLE  TO  ABUSE.       121 

it  should  on  that  account  be  singled  out  and  spoken 
against  as  a  vile  thing,  and  to  be  avoided  ?  Are  not 
corn,  and  oil,  and  milk,  and  honey,  as  well  as  wine, 
abused?  Or,  is  the  abuse  of  these  not  sinful,  that 
neither  of  them  on  that  account  is  ever  styled  the 
"  mocker?"  employed  as  a  symbol  of  wrath,  said  to 
occasion  woe  and  sorrow,  that  neither  of  these  is 
forbidden  to  kings,  forbidden  to  be  brought  into  the 
house  of  the  Lord,  forbidden  to  be  looked  upon,  or 
said  to  bite  like  a  serpent  or  sting  like  an  adder  ? 

If  because  good  wine  can  be  abused,  such  wine 
deserves  to  be  styled  a  "  mocker,"  and  can  fitly  be 
employed  in  the  same  state,  and  in  allusion  to  the 
same  attributes  as  a  symbol  of  wrath,  as  well  as  of 
mercy,  why  may  not  sunlight  and  Sabbaths,  and  even 
the  visitation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  be  spoken  of  in 
the  same  manner;  for  all  these  (good  and  glorious 
in  themselves)  are,  as  well  as  wine,  liable  to  abuse, 
and  the  abuse  of  these,  as  well  as  the  abuse  of  wine, 
is  sinful ;  and  yet  no  such  array  of  texts  against 
these,  or  either  of  these,  can  be  found  in  either 
Testament,  as  meets  the  eye  against  wine  in  both. 

The  fact  that  good  wine  may  be  abused,  but  ill 
accounts  for  the  application  to  such  wine  of  those 
terms  of  reprobation  applied  to  wine  of  some  sort 
so  often  in  the  Bible.  To  justify  such  an  application 
of  such  terms,  in  such  frequency,  it  should  seem  that 
not  only  good  wine,  which  in  the  use  might  be 
abused,  must  have  existed,  but  bad  wine,  and  wine 
therefore  unfit  for  use,  must  also  have  existed. 

NOTT  11 


122  WIXE    COMMENDED    GOOD. 

Since  good  and  bad  wine  both  exist  now,  why 
should  they  not  have  existed  then?  And  if  both 
existed  then  (as  the  Bible  assures  us  they  did),  why 
should  it  be  doubted  when  wine  is  commended,  that 
the  commendation  respects  the  former  kind  of  wine ; 
and  when  wine  is  condemned,  that  the  condemnation 
respects  the  latter  kind  ?  Does  either  the  honor  of 
religion  or  the  analogy  of  faith  require  that  it  should 
be  otherwise  ? 

When  commending  wine,  if,  in  place  of  commend 
ing  the  weak,  nutritious,  unintoxicating  wines  of 
nature,  the  Bible  commends  the  strong,  innutiitious, 
intoxicating  wines  of  art,  it  does  so  in  contravention 
of  the  will  of  God,  as  everywhere  else  expressed ; 
and  the  doing  of  this,  here  stands  forth  an  isolated 
fact,  at  variance  with  all  the  other  facts  recorded  in 
the  Scriptures,  a  fact  unexplained  and  unexplainable. 

All  the  other  articles  recommended  as  food  or 
beverage,  are  not  only  pronounced  good,  but  are 
practically  found  to  be  so.  Elsewhere,  in  reference 
to  articles  of  diet,  the  word  and  providence  of  God 
are  in  harmony ;  here  only  at  variance  ;  for,  however 
bland,  refreshing  and  life-sustaining  the  nutritious, 
unintoxicating  wines  of  nature  may  be,  the  strong, 
exciting,  intoxicating  wines  of  art  are,  and  have  ever 
proved  themselves  to  be,  both  life  and  soul-destroying. 

Against  the  use  of  such  wines,  God  hath  not  left 
himself  without  a  witness  in  his  Providence.  From 
the  chalice  that  contains  it,  is  audibly  breathed 
out  the  serpent's  hiss,  and  visibly  darted  forth  the 
adder's  sting.  Around  this  chalice  ruins  are  strewed 


BAD  WINE  CONDEMNED  BY  NATURE.     123 

—  strewed  by  the  mocker — in  which  ruins  there  is 
a  voice  that  speaks,  and  it  speaks  for  God,  and  its 
language  is,  Touch  not,  taste  not,  handle  not.  Here 
there  can  be  no  mistake.  That  woe,  and  sorrow, 
and  ciime,  and  disease,  flow  from  this  inebriating 
chalice,  none  can  deny ;  nor  can  any  sophistry  shel 
ter  its  bewildering,  crime-producing  contents  from 
deserved  reprobation,  or  bring  its  use  as  a  beverage, 
within  the  sanction  of  the  sanctuary. 

The  books  of  nature  and  revelation  were  written 
by  the  same  unerring  hand.  The  former  is  more  full 
and  explicit  in  relation  to  the  physical,  the  latter  in 
relation  to  the  moral  laws  of  our  nature  ;  still,  how 
ever,  where  both  touch  on  the  same  subject,  they 
will  ever  be  found,  when  rightly  intei-preted,  to  be 
iii  harmony. 

There  was  a  time  when  the  Copernican  system,  the 
truth  of  which  was  stamped  on  the  phases  of  the 
planets,  and  proclaimed  in  the  revolution  of  the 
stars,  was  pronounced  a  heresy,  because  it  was 
believed  to  be  irreconcilable  with  the  language  of  the 
Bible.  Councils  decreed  that  the  earth  stood  still, 
and  that  the  sun  and  stars  revolved  around  it.  Regard 
less  of  that  decree,  the  sun  and  stars  maintained 
their  unalterable  position,  and  the  earth,  unawed, 
moved  onward  in  its  orbit,  and  revolved  on  its  axis  ; 
and  it  has  continued  to  do  so,  till  mankind,  familia 
rized  to  its  movements,  see  no  longer  any  contradic 
tion  between  those  movements  and  the  language  in 
which  they  were  formerly  spoken  of  by  patriarchs 
and  prophets. 


124  NATURE  AND  REVELATION  NOT  AT  VARIANCE. 

Nature  and  revelation  are  as  little  at  variance  on 
the  wine  question  as  on  other  questions,  and  when 
rightly  consulted,  they  will  be  found  to  be  so.  It  is 
not  in  the  text,  but  in  the  interpretation,  that  men 
have  felt  straitened  in  their  consciences  ;  and  though 
this  feeling  should  continue,  unless  the  providence 
of  God  changes,  it  will  not  alter  the  facts  of  the  case. 

In  vain  will  sophists  teach,  or  councils  decree, 
that  intoxicating  wine,  wine  the  mocker,  is  good 
wine,  and  fit  for  beverage,  so  long  as  God  in  his 
providence  proclaims  that  it  is  not.  In  despite  of  the 
teachings  of  sophists  and  the  decrees  of  councils,  the 
purpose  of  God  will  stand,  and  human  arrogance  con 
tinue  to  be  rebuked,  till  it  shall  be  felt  that  the  laws 
of  nature  are  sacred,  and  that  it  is  as  fatal  to  resist, 
as  idle  to  reason,  against  the  will  of  Him  who 
ordained  them. 

To  condemn  as  sin,  per  se,  all  use  of  intoxicating 
wine  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  vindicate  its  use  as  a 
common  beverage  on  the  other,  appears  equally 
erroneous. 

The  wine  of  the  condemned  was  doubtless  an 
intoxicating  wine,  disallowed  to  worshippers  in  the 
house  of  the  Lord,  disallowed  to  kings,  rejected  by 
the  Savior,  and  yet  it  might  be  given  to  the  sad 
of  heart,  as  strong  drink  might  to  those  ready  to 
perish. 

Doubtless  other  intoxicating  wines  follow  the  same 
rule.  None  of  them  were  made  in  vain ;  each  has 
its  appropriate  use,  and  may  be  used  whenever  the 
use  is  beneficial,  and  to  the  extent  it  is  beneficial ; 


MEATS  AND  HERBS,  GOOD  AND  BAD.     125 

and  each  is  to  be  avoided  when  its  use  would  be 
injurious,  as  experience  shows  it  to  be,  when  used  as 
custom  sanctions  its  use  as  a  beverage. 

It  is  true  that  wine,  as  well  as  flesh  and  herbs,  and 
bread  and  milk  and  honey,  is  contained  in  the  original 
grant  of  good  things  to  man,  but  this  implies  no 
sanction  of  bad  wine,  any  more  than  of  any  other 
bad  article. 

Because  flesh  is  contained  in  the  same  grant,  no 
one  feels  called  upon  to  defend  the  use  of  the  flesh 
of  horses,  or  of  dogs,  or  of  reptiles ;  nay,  not  even 
the  flesh  of  kine,  when  diseased  or  rendered  noxious 
by  putrescence  or  otherwise.  Neither  does  any  one, 
because  herbs  are  contained  in  that  grant,  feel  called 
upon  to  defend  the  use  of  henbane  or  deadly  night 
shade,  or  even  of  garden  herbs,  after  having  become 
wilted,  and  especially  after  having  become  delete 
rious  by  decay. 

As  little,  because  wine  is  contained  in  that  grant, 
can  the  wines  of  Sodom  be  defended ;  nay,  nor  even 
wine  from  the  vines  of  Eschol,  or  of  Lebanon,  after 
they  shall  have  been  rendered  deleterious  by  the  pro 
cess  of  fermentation,  or  any  other  process  through 
which  it  may  have  passed,  before  reaching  ultimate, 
utter  putrefaction. 

Who  ever  thought,  because  bread  and  milk  are 
sanctioned  in  the  Bible,  that  therefore  bread  must  be 
eaten  after  it  had  become  mouldy  by  age,  or  milk, 
after  it  had  become  sour  by  fermentation  ? 

From  the  moment  the  animal  is  slain,  the  herb 
gathered,  or  the  cluster  of  the  vine  plucked,  the  pro- 

NOTT.  *11 


126      MAN   TREATED    AS   A    RATIONAL    CREATURE. 

cess  of  decay  commences,  which,  unless  arrested,  will 
continue  in  each,  till  all  alike  are  rendered  unfit  for 
use,  by  progressive  fermentation. 

With  wines,  as  with  herbs  and  meats,  some  were 
originally  comparatively  good,  and  some  compara 
tively  bad ;  and  some  which  were  originally  good 
became  bad  through  mistaken  treatment,  the  progres 
sive  process  of  fermentation,  or  some  other  incidental 
process  through  which  they  may  have  passed. 

Meats  recently  slaughtered,  herbs  recently  gathered, 
and  wines  recently  expressed  from  the  cluster,  are 
usually  the  most  healthful,  nutritious  and  refreshing. 
And  though  wine  perfectly  free  from  alcohol  may  not 
be  obtainable,  and  though  its  most  perfect  state  be 
the  state  in  which  it  is  expressed  from  the  cluster, 
still  it  may  be  more  or  less  objectionable,  as  it  devi 
ates  more  or  less  from  that  state  till  it  becomes 
positively  deleterious  and  intoxicating. 

Though  God's  grant  to  man  covers  wine  among 
other  good  things,  it  designates  no  particular  kind, 
it  gives  no  directions  as  to  the  mode  of  preparation, 
or  the  time  when  it  is  most  fit  for  use.  These  and 
similar  instructions  are  to  be  looked  for,  not  in  the 
book  of  revelation,  but  of  nature. 

Man  is  a  rational  creature,  and  God  treats  him  as 
such.  The  great  store-house  of  nature  is  flung  open 
before  him,  and  permission  is  given  him  to  slay  or 
gather  and  eat ;  not  indeed  inconsiderately  and  indis 
criminately,  but  of  such  and  only  such  as  are  suited 
to  his  nature,  and  as  are  good  for  food. 


ABSTINENCE  FROM  BAD  WINE  A  DUTY.    127 

In  the  selection  and  preparation  of  the  articles, 
reason  is  to  be  exercised,  experience  consulted,  the 
good  distinguished  from  the  bad,  the  precious  from 
the  vile. 

That  Patriarchs  and  Prophets  drank  wine,  and  that 
the  Scriptural  right  to  drink  it  still  remains  unim 
paired,  there  can  be  no  doubt ;  still,  in  making  the 
selection,  other  directions  than  what  the  Bible  con 
tains  must  be  followed.  Here,  as  we  have  said, 
reason  must  be  exercised,  and  experience  consulted. 
Who,  in  the  selection  of  herbs,  or  milk,  or  meat, 
would  venture  to  take  a  contrary  course  ;  or  who, 
having  taken  it,  would  not  find  in  the  sequel  his 
temerity  rebuked? 

How  often,  in  the  course  of  events,  have  herbs,  or 
meat,  or  milk,  proved  poisonous,  and  produced  dis 
ease  or  death?  In  cases  of  this  sort,  how  unavailing 
to  declare  that  these  articles,  because  included  in  the 
original  grant,  were  not  poisonous,  when  God  declared 
in  His  providence  that  they  were.  Herbs,  and  meat, 
and  milk,  stand  on  the  same  footing  as  wine,  and  we 
only  insist  that  the  same  discrimination  should  be 
exercised  in  relation  to  the  latter  that  is  exercised  in 
relation  to  the  former.  The  question,  so  far  as  good 
wine  is  concerned,  is  a  question  of  expediency,  and 
only  of  expediency,  and  abstinence  becomes  a  duty 
only  when  indulgence  would  be  injurious. 

But  abstinence  from  bad  wine  is  always  a  duty ; 
and  whether  intoxicating  wine,  wine  that  enervates 
the  reason,  defiles  the  conscience,  destroys  the  consti 
tution,  and  peoples  the  prison-house  with  criminals 


128  WINE    COMPARED    WITH   OTHER   DIET. 

and  the  graveyard  with  victims,  be  not  bad  wine, 
will  hardly,  where  prejudice  is  not  indulged  and  appe 
tite  consulted,  at  this  late  day,  be  made  a  question. 

Perfect  purity  nowhere  exists  on  this  crime-curst 
planet.  Earth  supplies  neither  air,  or  food,  or  beve 
rage,  suited  to  immortal  natures.  Even  the  well,  at 
the  entrance  of  which  Jesus  Christ  revealed  to  the 
woman  of  Samaria  his  Messiahship,  contained  not  the 
water  of  life.  Jacob,  who  drank  at  that  well,  was 
dead;  the  Patriarchs  who  drank  at  it  were  dead. 
Were  perfect  purity  insisted  on,  man  could  neither 
eat,  or  drink,  or  breathe.  This  insisted  on,  would 
exclude  the  mechanic  from  the  workshop,  the  hus 
bandman  from  the  harvest  field,  and  the  worshipper 
from  the  temple  of  his  God.  But  it  is  not  insisted 
on  —  at  least  not  elsewhere — wrhy  then  should  it  be 
insisted  on  here  ? 

It  is  enough,  if  wine  be  placed  on  the  same  footing 
as  other  articles  of  diet,  with  respect  to  each  of 
which,  the  question  in  relation  to  deleterious  qualities 
is  a  question  of  degree,  not  of  totality. 

If  we  procure  the  best  articles  in  our  power,  it  is 
all  that  can  be  required  of  us ;  and  it  is  only  those 
articles  which  contain  deleterious  ingredients  in  such 
quantity  or  such  proportion  as  produce  disease  of 
body  or  mind,  the  use  of  which  is  to  be  avoided. 
Here,  not  temperance,  but  abstinence,  is  a  duty. 
The  evil  to  be  apprehended  in  the  use  of  deleterious 
ingredients  often  depends  less  on  quantity  than  in 
tensity.  A  single  drop  of  pure  alcohol  may  inflame 
some  point  in  the  mucus  membrane  of  the  stomach, 


BAD   WINE   ALONE   INJURIOUS.  129 

with  which  it  comes  in  contact,  and  thus  produce 
the  inception  of  a  disease  which  may  afterwards 
diffuse  itself  over  the  entire  surface  of  that  vital 
organ,  which  drop  might  have  been  innocuous,  or  at 
least  have  produced  no  appreciable  injury,  had  it 
been  diluted  to  a  certain  extent  by  water. 

In  estimating  the  effect  of  other  agencies  than 
poison,  intensity  as  well  as  quantity  must  be  taken 
into  the  account.  There  is  a  temperature  condu 
cive  to  life  and  health,  and  there  is  a  temperature 
above  and  below  which  life  becomes  extinct.  The 
rays  of  solar  light  and  heat,  so  grateful  to  the  eye 
and  the  body  under  certain  circumstances,  become 
as  distressful  as  destructive  when  their  intensity  is 
increased,  as  it  may  be  by  the  intervention  of  a  burn 
ing  glass. 

Although  the  heat  concentrated  in  a  spark  of  fire 
or  a  drop  of  boiling  water  might  blister  some  small 
and  delicate  portion  of  the  human  cuticle  with  which 
it  might  chance  to  come  in  contact,  still  the  effect 
of  that  same  heat,  if  imparted  to  a  volume  of  water 
sufficient  for  the  immersion  of  the  body,  if  apprecia 
ble  at  all,  might  be  only  bland  and  genial. 

In  diet  as  in  respiration,  the  action  of  one  element 
may  neutralize  that  of  another ;  or  its  own  action 
may  depend,  as  in  the  case  of  light  and  heat,  less  on 
quantity  than  concentration. 

Hence,  wine  in  which  its  (entire]  saccharine  mat 
ter  has  been  converted  by  continuous  fermentation 
into  alcohol,  may  be  highly  exciting  and  deleterious ; 
and,  at  the  same  time,  wine  in  which  the  process  of 


130  TOTAL   ABSTINENCE   INCUMBENT. 

fermentation  is  inceptive  merely,  and  in  which  but  a 
small  portion  of  its  saccharine  matter  has  been  so 
converted,  may  be  both  nutritious  and  healthful ;  and 
the  more  so,  when  the  proportion  in  which  these 
elements  exist  in  the  cask,  is  the  proportion  in  which 
they  existed  in  the  cluster  or  the  vat ;  as  that  pro 
portion  may  be  the  proportion  best  suited  to  the 
constitution  of  man,  for  whose  use,  in  this  state,  wine 
has  been  from  the  beginning  spontaneously  furnished 
by  the  Creator  himself. 

Still  it  does  not  follow  that  even  the  pure  blood 
of  the  grape  should  now  be  used  by  us  as  a  beverage. 
The  circumstances  of  society  (since  the  grant  to 
Jacob )  have  changed ;  distillation  has  been  discov 
ered  ;  chemistry  has  mingled  new  poisons  in  the  wine 
cup  ;  and  to  save  the  church  and  the  world  from  ruin, 
it  has  become  necessary,  and  it  is  therefore,  as  we 
have  already  said,  incumbent  on  us,  in  the  spirit  of 
the  great  law  of  Christian  love,  wholly  to  abstain 
from  the  use  of  vinous  beverage  of  every  sort.  Even 
as  medicine,  intoxicating  liquors  will  seldom  be 
required ;  other  and  safer  remedies  exist.  As  an 
element  at  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  use  of  wine  will 
indeed  be  perpetual.  This,  its  sacramental  use,  will 
be  considered  in  the  next  lecture.  To  the  considera 
tion  of  which,  the  distinction  in  wines  and  the  prin 
ciple  governing  the  selection  hinted  at  in  this,  may 
be  considered  as  preliminary.  On  all  these  several 
questions,  research  and  caution  are  necessary,  for  all 
the  circumstances  that  bear  on  such  must  be  taken 
into  account  if  we  would  arrive  at  the  true  result. 


LECTUKE  No.   V. 


WINE  — ITS    SACRAMENTAL    USE. 

The  wine  made  use  of  at  the  Paschal  Supper,  at  the  wedding  at 
Cana  of  Galilee  —  and  the  wine  recommended  to  Timothy. 

IN  the  preceding  lecture  we  have  shown  that  differ 
ent  kinds  of  wine  existed,  and  were  known  to  exist 
from  remote  antiquity,  some  of  which  were  salu 
brious,  sober  wines,  and  some  deleterious  and  intoxi 
cating. 

Since  these  things  are  so,  since  different  kinds  of 
wine  exist,  and  are  known  to  have  existed  from  remote 
antiquity — to  ascertain  which  of  these,  whether  salu 
brious  and  sober,  or  insalubrious  and  intoxicating 
wdne  was  used  by  our  Lord  in  the  sacramental  sup 
per,  it  will  be  of  use  first  to  ascertain  which  of  these 
kinds  of  wine  was  used  at  the  paschal  supper. 

And  here  it  is  obvious  to  remark  that  the  fruit  of 
the  vine  in  none  of  its  forms  constituted  any  part  of 
the  original  institution,  as  will  appear  from  the  thir 
teenth  chapter  of  Exodus.  On  the  contrary,  on  the 
fourteenth  of  Nisan,  a  lamb  without  blemish,  was  by 
each  family  to  be  eaten,  with  bitter  herbs ;  eaten 
standing  with  their  loins  girded,  their  shoes  on  their 
feet,  their  staves  in  their  hands,  and  eaten  in  haste. 


132     UNINTOXICATTNG    WINE   USED    AT    PASSOVEE. 

In  whatever  form  the  fruit  of  the  vine  was  subse 
quently  used,  it  was  probably  introduced  after  the 
settlement  in  Canaan — when  the  guests,  in  place  of 
standing  (as  appears  from  John,  xii.,  23),  .reclined  on 
their  left  arm  on  couches  placed  round  the  table  —  a 
posture  which,  according  to  the  writers  in  the  Tal 
mud,  was  an  emblem  of  that  rest  and  freedom  which 
God  had  granted  to  his  people. 

But  at  whatever  time  wine  was  introduced  at  the 
paschal  supper,  it  might  be  presumed,  in  the  absence 
of  evidence  to  the  contrary,  that  the  kind  selected 
would  be  in  keeping  with  the  nature  of  the  ordi 
nance.  And  this  it  should  seem  could  not  well  be 
intoxicating  wine,  since  this  would  but  ill  accord 
with  a  solemnity  in  which  bitter  herbs  were  to  be 
eaten,  and  from  which  leaven  was  to  be  excluded. 
" Unleavened  bread  shall  be  eaten  seven  days;  and 
there  shall  no  leavened  bread  be  seen  with  thee, 
neither  shall  there  be  leaven  seen  with  thee  in  all  thy 
quarters." 

G-esenius  declares  that  the  Hebrew  word  which 
the  English  translators  have  rendered  leaven,  applies 
to  wine  as  well  as  bread. 

"  The  word  chomets,"  says  Mr.  Herschell,  a  con 
verted  Jew,  "  has  a  wider  signification  than  that 
which  is  generally  attached  to  '  leaven,'  by  which  it 
is  rendered  in  the  English  Bible,  and  applies  to  the 
fermentation  of  corn  in  any  form,  to  beer,  and  to  all 
fermented  liquors." 

The  Kev.  C.  F.  Frey  says,  "  that  during  the  pass- 
over  Jews  dare  not  drink  any  liquor  made  from 


TESTIMONY.  133 

grain,  nor  any  that  has  passed  through  the  process 
of  fermentation." 

The  testimony  of  Mr  Frey  is  corroborated  by 
another  Hebrew  writer,  who  declares  "  that  their 
drink  during  the  time  of  the  feast  is  either  pure 
water  or  raisin  wine  prepared  by  themselves,  but  no 
kind  of  leaven  must  be  mixed  therein." 

And  M.  M.  Noah,  Esq.,  says  in  a  recent  publica 
tion:  "  unfermented  liquor  or  wine  free  from  alcohol 
was  alone  used  in  those  times,  as  it  is  used  at  the 
present  day  at  the  passover." 

But  not  to  insist  on  this.  Whatever  the  kind  of 
wine  made  use  of  at  the  paschal  supper,  it  was 
always,  if  the  writers  in  the  Talmud  or  even  the 
Christian  fathers  are  to  be  credited,  diluted  with 
water.* 


*  Dr.  Lightfoot  (I  quote  from  Home's  introduction  to  the  Practical 
Study  of  the  Scriptures)  Dr.  Lightfoot  has  collected  from  the  Talmud 
a  variety  of  passages  relative  to  the  Jewish  mode  of  celebrating  the 
passover;  from  which  we  have  abridged  the  following  particulars 
calculated  to  illustrate  the  history  of  our  Lord's  last  passover : 

1.  The  guests  being  seated  around  the  table,  they  mingled  a  cup 
of  wine  with  water,  over  which  the  master  of  the  family  gave  thanks 
and  then  drank  it  off.     The  thanksgiving  for  the  wine  was,  "  Blessed 
be  thou,  0  Lord,  who  hast  created  the  fruit  of  the  vine.     Blessed  be 
thou  for  this  good  day  and  for  this  convocation  which  thou  hast  given 
us  for  joy  and  rejoicing.     Blessed  be  thou,  0  Lord,  who  hast  sancti 
fied  Israel  and  the  times." 

2.  After  which  they  washed  their  hands  and  the  table  was  furnished 
with  the  paschal  lamb,  bitter  herbs  and  cakes  of  unleavened  bread. 

3.  The  person  presiding  took  a  leaf  of  salad,  and  having  blessed 
God  for  creating  the  fruit  of  the  ground,  he  ate  it,  as  did  the  other 
guests ;   after  which,  the  table  being  cleared,   the   children   were 

NOTT.  12 


134  TESTIMONY. 

But  if  the  wine  made  use  of  in  the  paschal  sup 
per  was  diluted  with  water,  then  probably  the 
wine  made  use  of  at  the  supper  of  our  Lord  was  also 
diluted. 

For  we  are  told  that,  having  on  the  night  before 
his  passion  retired  to  an  inner  chamber  at  Jerusalem 
and  celebrated  for  the  last  time  the  paschal  supper, 
he  took  bread  and  the  cup,  and  having  blessed  and 
brake  the  one,  and  poured  out  the  other,  he  gave  both 
to  his  disciples  in  token  of  his  love  and  as  memorials 


instructed  in  the  nature  of  their  feast.  In  like  manner  the  Savior 
makes  use  of  the  Lord's  Supper  to  declare  the  great  mercy  of  God 
in  our  redemption,  for  it  shows  forth  the  Lord's  death  until  he 
come. 

4.  Replacing  the  supper  they  explained  the  import  of  the  bitter 
herbs  and  paschal  lamb,  repeating  the  113th  and  114th  psalms,  with 
an  eucharistic  prayer. 

5.  The  hands  were  again  washed,  and  the  master,  after  an  ejacu- 
latory  prayer,  proceeded  to  break  and  bless  a  cake  of  unleavened  bread, 
which  he  distributed,  reserving  a  portion  thereof  for  the  last  morsel ; 
for  the  rule,  after  the  destruction  of  the  Temple,  was  to  conclude  by 
eating  a  small  piece  of  unleavened  bread. 

In  like  manner  our  Lord,  upon  instituting  the  sacrament  of  the 
eucharist,  which  was  prefigured  by  the  passover.  took  bread,  and 
having  blessed  it,  brake  it  and  gave  it  to  his  disciples,  saying,  take, 
eat,  this  is  my  body  which  is  broken  for  you.  This  do  in  remem 
brance  of  me. 

6.  They  then  ate  the  remainder  of  the  cake  with  bitter  herbs,  dip 
ping  the  bread  into  the  charoseth  or  sauce  provided.     To  which 
practice  the   Evangelists   Matthew  and  Mark  allude;    into  which 
our  Savior  is  supposed  to  have  dipped  the  sop  which  he  gave  to 
Judas. 

7.  Next  they  ate  the  flesh  of  the  peace  offerings  which  had  been 
sacrificed,  and  then  the  paschal  lamb,  which  was  followed  by  return 
ing  thanks  to  God. 


135 

of  his  death ;  which  solemnity  was  thereafter  to  be 
repeated,  that  by  its  repetition  his  death  might  be 
showed  forth  until  his  second  coming. 

As  our  Lord  in  this  latter  ordinance,  for  aught  that 
appears,  made  use  of  the  elements  previously  pre 
pared  for  the  former  ordinance,  it  may  fairly  be 
concluded,  that  if  water  was  mingled  in  the  wine 
contained  in  the  cup  made  use  of  in  the  former,  it 
was  also  mingled  in  the  wine  contained  in  the  cup 
made  use  of  in  the  latter. 


8.  A  cup  of  wine  was  then  filled,  over  which  they  blessed  God, 
and  hence  it  was  called  the  cup  of  blessing.     To  which  circumstance 
Paul  alludes  when  he  says  :  "  The  cup  of  blessing  which  we  bless,  is 
it  not  the  communion  of  the  body  of  Christ  V    It  was  at  this  part 
of  the  paschal  supper  that  the  Lord  took  the  cup  and  said :  "  This  is 
the  new  testament  in  my  blood  which  is  shed  for  you  and  for  many 
for  the  remission  of  sins." 

9.  The  last  cup  was  called  the  cup  of  hallel,  over  which  they  sang 
or  recited  the  Psalms  from  the  115th  to  the  118th  inclusive,  and  con 
cluded. 

In  like  manner  our  Lord  and  his  disciples,  when  they  had  sung  an 
hymn,  departed  to  the  Mount  of  Olives. 

So  much  in  relation  to  the  wine  of  the  passover. 

Besides  the  passover,  there  was  a  mingling  of  wine  with  water  at 
the  feast  of  the  tabernacle  in  the  Temple,  referred  to  by  our  Lord, 
John,  vii.,  37  and  38,  and  fully  described  by  the  Talmudists: 

"  When  the  fruits  of  sacrifice  were  laid  on  the  altar,  one  of  the 
priests  with  a  golden  tankard  went  to  the  fountain  Siloion  and  there 
filled  it  with  water.  He  returned  back  into  the  court  of  the  Temple 
through  the  water  gate.  The  trumpet  sounded.  On  the  altar  stood 
two  basins,  one  containing  wine,  and  the  other  empty,  into  which 
the  water  was  poured ;  and  then  they  were  poured  into  each  other 
by  way  of  oblation.  The  ceremony  was  in  honor  of  God ;  and  in 
gratitude  for  supplying  water  to  the  children  of  Israel  in  the  wilder 
ness." 


136  NECESSITY   OF   DILUTION. 

And  thus  the  Fathers  of  the  church  believed,  and 
the  early  councils  authoritatively  ordered.*  But  if  the 
wine  made  use  of  in  these  offices  of  religion  was  not 
intoxicating j  why  was  it  diluted  with  water?  Does  not 
its  dilution  prove  that  it  was  intoxicating  wine  ?  Cer- 


*  The  Council  of  Trent  decreed  ( ch.  7,  the  mass  )  :  "  Further,  the 
Holy  Council  reminds  all  men  that  the  priests  are  commanded  by  the 
church  to  mix  water  in  the  wine  in  the  cup,  when  they  offer  the  sacri 
fice  ;  partly  because  Christ  the  Lord  is  believed  to  have  done  the 
same,  and  partly  because  water  together  with  blood  flowed  from  his 
side,  which  sacrament  is  brought  to  remembrance  by  this  mixture." 

Says  Cave,  in  his  Primitive  Christianity,  speaking  of  the  early 
Christians : 

"  Their  sacramental  wine  was  generally  diluted  and  mixed  with 
water,  as  is  evident  from  Justin  Martyr,  Treneus,  Cyprian  and  others. 
Cyprian  in  a  long  epistle  expressly  pleads  for  it,  as  the  only  true  and 
warrantable  tradition,  derived  from  Christ  and  his  Apostles,  and 
endeavors  to  find  out  many  mystical  significations  intended  by  it,  and 
seems  to  intimate  as  if  he  had  been  peculiarly  warned  of  God  so  to 
observe  it." 

In  like  manner  the  sacramental  wine  was  originally  diluted  in  the 
Episcopal  church ;  and  among  the  changes  made  in  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  is  expressly  mentioned,  "  The  omitting  the  rubric 
that  ordered  water  to  be  mixed  with  the  wine"  used  in  the  eucharist. 
Wheatly,  in  his  apology  for  this  omission,  says  that  Dr.  Lightfoot 
observes  from  the  Babylonish  Talmud  that  this  ("  the  fruit  of  the 
vine" )  was  a  term  the  Jews  used  in  their  blessings  for  wine  mixed 
with  water.  He  admits  that  before  the  time  of  Origen  the  mixture 
was  the  general  practice  of  the  church.  That  F.  Cyprian  pleads 
strenuously  for  the  mixture  and  urges  it  from  the  practice  and  exam 
ple  of  our  Lord.  "  And  indeed,"  says  he,  "  it  must  be  confessed 
that  the  mixture  has  in  all  ages  been  the  general  practice,  and  for 
that  reason  was  enjoined,  as  has  been  noted  above,  to  be  continued  in 
our  church  by  the  first  reformers." 

Says  Palmer,  in  his  antiquities  of  the  English  ritual :  "  The  custom 
of  mingling  water  with  the  wine  of  the  eucharist,  is  one  which  prevailed 


PROBABILITY  INCREASED.  137 

tainly  not.  Other  qualities  apart  from  its  contained 
alcohol  may  have  rendered  dilution  necessary.  The 
nnintoxicating  wines  of  antiquity  were  often  thick 
and  even  ropy,  and  therefore  required  to  be  diluted 
to  fit  them  for  convenient  and  sometimes  for  health 
ful  and  pleasurable  use.* 


universally  in  the  Christian  church  from  the  earliest  ages.  Justin 
Martyr  of  Syria,  Ireneus  of  Gaul,  Clemens  of  Alexandria,  and  Cy 
prian  of  Carthage,  bear  testimony  to  its  prevalence  in  the  second  and 
third  centuries.  There  is  in  fact  no  sort  of  reason  to  deny  that  the 
Apostles  themselves  had  the  same  custom.  It  is  even  probable  that 
the  cup  which  our  Savior  blessed  at  the  last  supper  contained  water 
as  well  as  wine,  since  it  appears  that  it  was  generally  the  practice  of 
the  Jews  to  mix  the  paschal  cup,  which  our  Savior  used  in  instituting 
the  sacrament  of  his  blood." 

Bernard,  in  speaking  of  persons  who  thought  water  essential,  adds: 
"  The  judgment  of  theologians  is  certain,  that  consecration  is  valid 
even  if  water  be  omitted,  though  he  who  omits  it  is  guilty  of  a  seri 
ous  offence." 

In  the  Church  of  England  the  wine  of  the  eucharist  was  always  no 
doubt  mixed  with  water.  In  the  canons  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  church, 
published  in  the  time  of  King  Edgar,  it  is  enjoined  that  no  priest 
shall  celebrate  the  liturgy,  unless  he  have  all  things  that  pertain  to 
the  holy  eucharist,  that  is,  a  pure  oblation,  pure  wine  and  pure 
water.  In  after  ages  we  find  no  canons  made  to  enforce  the  use  of 
water,  for  it  was  an  established  custom :  certainly  none  can  be  more 
canonical  or  more  conformable  to  the  practice  of  the  primitive 
church. 

*  Pliny  says  it  was  common  in  Italy  and  Greece  to  boil  their  wines : 
thus  the  must  was  sometimes  boiled  down  to  one-half  and  sometimes 
to  one-third  part  of  its  quantity.  The  wines  of  Arcadia,  as  we  have 
seen,  were  declared  by  Aristotle  to  be  so  thick  that  they  dried  up  in 
the  goat  skins ;  that  it  was  the  practice  to  scrape  them  off,  and  dis 
solve  the  scrapings  in  water.  Very  similar  to  the  wines  of  Arcadia 
were  the  wines  of  Lebanon  and  Helbon,  spoken  of  in  Scripture.  The 
wines  of  Syria,  among  the  best  of  which  are  those  of  Lebanon, 
NOTT.  12 


138  PROBABILITY  INCREASED. 

Since  then  the  unintoxicating  wines  of  antiquity 
required  dilution,  and  since  the  wines  made  use  of  in 
the  offices  of  religion  were  actually  diluted,  the  fact 
of  their  dilution  increases  rather  than  diminishes  the 
presumption  that  the  wines  so  made  use  of  were 
unintoxicating  wines. 

On  the  whole,  since  the  bread  of  the  passover 
must  be  unleavened,  that  is  unfermented;  since  the 
use,  nay,  even  the  possession  of  leaven  was  prohibited 
during  this  festival ;  since  many  of  the  modern  Jews, 
who  may  be  supposed  to  understand  the  usages  of 
their  fathers  better  than  we  do,  refuse  even  now  the 
use  of  fermented  wine  in  the  cup  of  blessing  which 
they  bless — to  say  the  least,  it  is  not  improbable 


are,  says  a  modem  traveler,  "prepared  by  boiling  immediately 
after  they  are  expressed  from  the  grape."  There  is  reason  to  believe, 
says  W.  G.  Brown,  that  this  mode  of  boiling  their  wines  was  in  gene 
ral  practice  among  the  ancients.  It  is  still  retained  in  some  parts  of 
Provence,  where  it  is  called  cooked  wine.  "  The  wines  of  Syria," 
says  Mons.  Volney,  "  are  of  three  sorts,  the  red,  the  white  and  the 
yellow.  The  white,  which  are  the  most  rare,  are  so  bitter  as  to  be 
disagreeable;  the  two  others,  on  the  contrary,  are  too  sweet  and 
sugary.  This  arises  from  their  being  boiled,  which  makes  them 
resemble  the  baked  wines  of  Provence.  The  general  custom  of  the 
country  is  to  reduce  the  must  to  two-thirds  of  its  quantity. 

"  The  yellow  wine  is  much  esteemed  among  our  merchants,  under 
the  name  of  Golden  Wine  ( Vin  d'or),  which  has  been  given  to  it 
from  its  color.  The  most  esteemed  is  produced  from  the  hill  sides  of 
the  Zouk,  a  village  of  Mazbeh,  near  Antoura.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
heat  it,  but  it  is  too  sugary.  Such  are  the  wines  of  Lebanon,  so 
boasted  by  the  Grecian  and  Roman  epicures.  It  is  probable  that  the 
inhabitants  of  Lebanon  have  made  no  change  in  their  ancient  method 
of  making  wines,  nor  in  the  culture  of  their  vines." — Volney 's 
Travels  in  Egypt  and  Syria,  vol.  ii.}  ch.  29,  p.  205,  ed.  1788. 


ARGUMENT   FROM   USE   INCONCLUSIVE.  139 

that  unfermented  wine  as  well  as  unfermented  bread 
was  made  use  of  at  the  paschal  supper,  and  if  at  the 
paschal  supper,  then  probably  at  the  supper  of  our 
Lord. 

Nor  let  it  be  forgotten,  that  however  much  may  of 
late  have  been  said  by  the  disciples  about  fermented, 
that  is,  intoxicating  wine,  the  Master  has  said  nothing 
of  the  use  of  wine  of  any  kind  in  that  solemnity. 
Nor  is  the  term  wine  ever  once  employed  by  the 
sacred  writers  in  connection  with  the  sacramental 
supper.  It  was  the  "  CUP  "  that  Jesus  Christ  gave 
to  his  disciples ;  and  neither  fermented  nor  wifermentcd 
wine,  but  the  "FKUIT  OF  THE  VINE"  are  the  terms 
by  which  the  contents  of  that  cup  are,  by  him  that 
poured  it  out,  designated.  And  surely  the  pure  blood 
of  the  grape,  as  it  is  expressed  from  the  cluster,  is 
quite  as  intelligible  and  striking  an  emblem  of  the 
blood  of  Christ,  and  quite  as  truly  the  fruit  of  the 
vine,  as  that  same  blood  of  the  grape  will  be  after 
continued  fermentation  shall  have  converted  a  nutri 
tive  and  healthful  into  an  intoxicating  and  deleterious 
beverage.  And  if  it  be  so,  then  surely  it  may  be 
used  on  sacramental  occasions  without  scruple  and 
without  offence. 

As  to  the  dilution  of  the  paschal  and  sacramental 
wine  with  water,  the  usage  may  be  said  to  have  been 
peculiarly  pertinent  and  proper,  if  the  wine  itself 
was  unfermented  wine,  because  such  wine  often,  if 
not  usually,  required  dilution. 

If  these  things  are  so — if  the  wine  used  in  primi 
tive  times  and  on  sacred  occasions,  and  whether  fer- 


140  MARRIAGE   AT   CANA  AT   GALILEE. 

mented  or  unfermented,  was  diluted  with  water — 
then  how  inconclusive  the  argument  drawn  from  such 
usage,  in  favor  of  the  use,  as  a  common  beverage,  of 
fermented  wine  without  dilution ! 

As  to  the  wine  at  Cana  of  Galilee,  if  it  be  arrogant 
to  assume  that  it  was  certainly  not  intoxicating,  it  is 
no  less  arrogant  to  assume  that  it  certainly  was  intoxi 
cating.  All  that  the  sacred  text  communicates  is, 
that  water  was  converted  into  wine  ;  but  the  question 
as  to  the  kind  of  wine,  is  left  an  open  question ;  and 
the  same,  for  aught  asserted  to  the  contrary,  may 
have  been  the  wine  of  Helbon  or  of  Lebanon,  or  of 
any  of  those  numerous  kinds  of  wine  alluded  to  by 
Pliny.  Some  of  which  wines  were  bitter,  poisonous 
and  stupefactive ;  some  sweet,  healthful  and  invigo 
rating  ;  and  some  acid,  fragrant  and  refreshing.  Amid 
this  variety,  which  was  selected  as  the  most  appro 
priate  for  manifesting  the  Savior's  power  and  goodness 
in  his  first  miracle,  has  not  been  told  us,  and  can, 
therefore,  only  be  inferred  from  the  occasion,  the  per 
son  performing  the  miracle,  and  the  circumstances 
under  which  it  was  performed. 

What,  then,  was  the  occasion,  who  were  the  guests, 
who  the  person  performing  the  miracle,  and  at  what 
stage  of  the  entertainment  was  it  performed  ? 

The  occasion  was  the  solemnization  of  an  ordinance 
of  God ;  the  guests  were  grave,  devout  persons ;  Jesus, 
the  mother  and  disciples  of  Jesus,  were  there ;  the 
person  performing  the  miracle  was  Jesus  himself; 
the  time  was  near  the  close  of  the  entertainment, 
when  the  guests,  it  would  seem,  had  already  well 


WINE.  141 

drank,  and  the  original  supply  of  wine  provided  was 
exhausted,  and  the  additional  supply  furnished  at  this 
late  hour  was,  in  the  j  udgment  of  the  master  of  the 
festival,  of  the  BEST  QUALITY. 

Had  Pliny,  Columella,  Theophrastus,  Plutarch, 
and  other  ancient  sages,  some  of  whom  were  cotem 
porary  with  the  Apostles,  presided  at  this  festival, 
the  question  at  issue  as  to  the  kind  of  wine  miracu 
lously  supplied,  would  have  been  decided ;  for  these 
men  have  sat  in  judgment  on  the  quality  of  wines, 
and  pronounced  the  weaker,  unintoxicating  winess 
the  better  wines. 

But  these  men  did  not  preside  at  this  festival,  and 
whether  the  master  of  the  feast,  who  did,  agreed 
with  them  in  their  opinion  concerning  the  relative 
goodness  of  wines,  we  are  not  informed,  and  will 
not,  therefore,  presume  authoritatively  to  decide ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  leave  the  question  whether  the 
Savior  of  the  world  miraculously  supplied  on  this 
occasion  deleterious,  exciting,  intoxicating  wine,  or 
sober,  moral,  unintoxicating  wine,  to  be  passed  on  by 
the  enlightened  reason  and  conscience  of  others. 

For  ourselves,  however,  we  may  be  permittted  to 
say,  in  view  of  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  we 
incline  to  the  opinion  that  the  wine  declared  by  the 
master  of  the  feast  to  be  "  good  wine"  wras  good  wins 
—  good  in  the  sense  that  Pliny,  Columella  or  Theo 
phrastus  would  have  used  the  term  "  good"  when 
applied  to  wine  ;  that  is,  good  because  nutritious  and 
unintoxicating  ;  and  of  which  the  guests,  even  at  such 
an  hour,  might  drink  freely  and  without  apprehension, 


142  PAUL'S  DIRECTION  TO  TIMOTHY. 

because  it  was  wine  which,  though  it  would  refresh 
and  cheer,  would  not  derange,  demoralize  or  intoxi 
cate. 

But  be  this  as  it  may,  did  not  Paul  expressly 
recommend  the  use  of  wine  to  Timothy  ?  He  did  so. 
But  it  was  but  little,  and  that  medicinally.  His 
words  are,  "  Drink  no  longer  water,  but  use  a  little 
wine  for  thy  stomach's  sake,  and  thine  often  infirmi 
ties."  Both  the  quantity  and  the  quality  of  the  wine 
recommended  here  are  indicated. 

Timothy  at  the  time  was  an  invalid,  and  Paul  was 
prescribing  for  him  as  such.  The  quantity  of  wine 
prescribed  was  small,  the  kind  medicinal,  for  it  was 
prescribed  for  his  stomach's  sake  and  his  many  infir 
mities. 

Though  we  do  not  know  what  all  the  infirmities 
of  Timothy  were,  we  do  know  that  among  them  was 
a  diseased  or  disordered  stomach  ;  and  the  wine  pre 
scribed,  be  the  kind  what  it  may,  must  by  the 
apostle  have  been  deemed  good  for  such  a  stomach. 

Now  at  the  time  this  prescription  was  given, 
there  was  in  use,  as  we  have  seen,  wines,  the  pure 
juice  or  blood  of  the  grape,  in  the  state  in  which  it 
was  expressed — also  wines  containing  a  diminished 
quantity  of  saccharine  matter  and  an  increased  quan 
tity  of  alcohol,  produced  by  converting  the  former 
into  the  latter  by  continued  fermentation  —  as  well 
as  wines  to  which  drugs  had  been  added,  most  of 
which  were  intoxicating,  and  some  of  which,  as  Aris 
totle  and  Pliny  both  affirm,  were  deleterious,  and 
"  produced  headaches,  dropsy,  madness,  dysentery 


EFFECTS  OF  ALCOHOL  ON  THE  STOMACH.   143 

and  stomach  complaints ;"  and  some  of  which,  on 
the  contrary,  as  the  same  authors  affirm,  were  salu 
brious  and  medicinal,  and  particularly  commended 
for  enfeebled  or  "  diseased  stomachs." 

Although  we  do  not  know  the  effect  produced 
upon  the  human  stomach,  by  all  the  poisons  con 
tained  in  ancient  drugged  wines,  we  do  know  the 
effect  produced  upon  that  delicate  organ  by  Alcohol, 
the  poison  contained  in  fermented  wine ;  for  it  has 
been  made  apparent  from  post  mortem  examinations. 
"  Alcohol  used  frequently  and  in  considerable  quan 
tities,  causes  inflammation  of  this  delicate  organ, 
which  is  generally  of  the  chronic  kind."  This  disease 
is  insidious  in  its  character  and  slow  in  its  effects, 
but  it  invariably  advances  while  the  noxious  cause  is 
continually  applied,  until  great  induration,  schirrous, 
and  sometimes  cancers  and  ulcers,  are  the  deplorable 
consequences. 

The  pyloric  and  cardiac  orifices  become  occasionally 
indurated  and  contracted,  and  when  this  is  the  case, 
death  soon  puts  an  end  to  the  tantalizing  suffering 
of  the  wretched  victim. 

But  not  from  post  mortem  examinations  alone  are 
the  effects  of  alcohol  upon  the  human  stomach  made 
apparent. 

By  a  singular  providence,  ocular  demonstration 
of  these  effects,  while  in  progress,  has  been  furnished. 

A  young  Canadian,  St.  Martin  by  name,  was 
wounded  by  a  cannon  ball,  which  in  its  passage 
opened  an  orifice  in  his  stomach,  which,  though  the 
wound  was  healed,  was  never  closed. 


144       EXPERIMENTS  UPON  ST.  MARTIN. 

Hence  it  became  necessary,  in  order  to  prevent  the 
escape  of  food,  to  cover  that  orifice  by  a  pad. 

Dr.  Beaumont,  the  army  surgeon,  who  effected 
the  cure,  being  impressed  with  a  sense  of  the  impor 
tance  of  the  opportunity  thus  furnished  for  investi 
gating  the  process  of  digestion,  received  the  young 
man  into  his  family,  and  instituted  a  series  of  experi 
ments,  which  were  continued  two  or  three  years. 

During  these  experiments  he  found,  that  whenever 
St.  Martin  drank  fermented  liquor,  "  the  mucus 
membrane  of  the  stomach  was  covered  with  inflam 
matory  and  ulcerous  patches,  the  secretions  were 
vitiated,  and  the  gastric  juice  diminished  in  quantity, 
and  of  an  unnatural  viscidity,  and  yet  he  described 
himself  as  perfectly  well,  and  complained  of  nothing. 

"  Two  days  subsequent  to  this,  the  inner  membrane 
of  the  stomach  was  unusually  morbid,  the  inflam 
matory  appearance  more  extensive,  the  spots  more 
livid  than  usual ;  from  the  surface  of  some  of  them 
exuded  small  drops  of  grumous  blood :  the  ulcerous 
patches  were  larger  and  more  numerous ;  the  mucus 
covering  thicker  than  usual,  and  the  gastric  secretions 
much  more  vitiated.  The  gastric  fluids  extracted 
were  mixed  with  a  large  proportion  of  thick  ropy 
mucus,  and  a  considerable  mucopumlent  discharge, 
slightly  tinged  with  blood,  resembling  discharges 
from  the  bowels  in  some  cases  of  dysenteiy.  Not 
withstanding  this  diseased  appearace  of  the  stomach, 
no  very  essential  aberration  of  its  functions  was 
manifested.  St.  Martin  complained  of  no  symptoms 
indicating  any  general  derangement  of  the  system, 


PAUL   RECOMMENDED    WINE   MEDICINALLY.      145 

except  an  uneasy  sensation  and  tenderness  at  the  pit 
of  the  stomach,  and  some  vertigo  with  dimness  and 
yellowness  of  vision  on  stooping  down  and  raising 
up  again."  Dr.  Beaumont  further  observed,  that 
"the  free  use  of  ardent  spirits,  wine,  beer,  or  any 
other  intoxicating  liquor,  when  continued  for  some 
days,  has  invariably  produced  these  changes/' 

Now  whatever  may  have  been  the  other  infirmities 
in  question,  is  it  probable  that  Paul  recommended 
even  a  little  of  that  kind  of  wine  which  produced 
such  effects  on  the  stomach,  to  be  druuk  by  his 
young  friend  Timothy  for  his  "  stomach's  sake  ?" 
Especially,  is  this  probable,  when  there  existed  at  the 
time  other  kinds  of  wine  known  to  be  harmless  not 
only,  but  medicinal  also ;  nay,  even  adapted  especially 
to  disordered  or  diseased  stomachs  ? 

If  any,  in  view  of  so  many  probabilities  to  the 
contrary,  shall,  notwithstanding,  be  of  this  opinion, 
they  will,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  since  the  question  cannot 
be  authoritatively  and  infallibly  settled,  admit  that  it 
is  not  altogether  without  color  of  reason,  that  the 
advocates  of  total  abstinence  from  all  that  can  intoxi 
cate  differ  from  them  in  opinion.  But  though  the 
probability  were  much  greater  than  it  is  believed  to 
be,  that  the  wine  recommended  by  Paul  to  Timothy 
was  intoxicating  wine,  still  it  would  be  obvious  to 
remark,  that  it  was  recommended  medicinally,  and 
has  therefore  no  bearing  on  the  use  of  wine  in  health 
and  as  a  common  beverage.  And  it  is  also  obvious 
to  remark,  that  be  the  kind  of  wine  in  question  what 
it  may,  up  to  the  time  this  recommendation  was 

NOTT.  13 


146  HABITS   OF   PRIMITIVE   CHRISTIANS. 

given,  Timothy  was,  in  the  fullest  sense,  a  cold  water 
drinker ;  and  that  an  apostolic  recommendation  was 
necessary  to  induce  him  to  take  even  a  little  wine, 
and  that  medicinally  ;  and  judge  ye,  what  must  have 
been  the  state  of  society,  and  the  conviction  of  duty 
among  Christians,  at  a  time  when  such  a  license  was 
requisite  for  such  a  purpose. 

With  all  that  tendency  to  ultraism  said  to  prevail 
at  present,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  evangelists 
might  not  even  now  be  found  who,  though  in  health, 
would  require  no  such  license  for  such  a  liberty ;  and 
it  may  also  be  doubted,  whether  a  mighty  change 
does  not  yet  remain  to  be  effected  in  our  manners, 
before  our  abstinence  will  equal  the  abstinence  of 
primitive  Christians,  or  come  within  those  limits 
which  the  Bible  prescribes. 

Speaking  of  the  exemplary  and  self-denying  habits 
of  those  Christians,  says  Minutius  Felix :  "  Our  feasts 
are  not  only  chaste  but  sober ;  we  indulge  not  our 
selves  in  banquets,  nor  make  our  feasts  with  wine, 
but  temper  our  cheerfulness  with  gravity  and  serious 
ness."  With  these  primitive  habits,  how  will  the 
habits  of  modern  Christians  compare  ?  To  say  nothing 
of  public  festivals,  how  is  it  at  ordinary  meals  and 
among  those  select  and  exemplary  persons  called,  by 
way  of  eminence,  temperate  drinkers  ?  Alas !  that  it 
should  be  so,  but  so  it  is,  among  such  temperate 
drinkers,  wines,  even  intoxicating  wines,  are  drank 
habitually  and  freely  and  without  dilution  ;  a  license 
this,  which,  among  the  more  moral  Pagans,  was 
formerly  deemed  disreputable.  The  Greeks  regard 


CUSTOMS   AMONG   THE   GREEKS.  147 

undiluted  wine  as  the  symbol  of  drunkenness,  and  as 
constituting  the  boundary  between  the  sober  and 
moral  and  the  dissolute  and  drunken. 

Laws  were  enacted,  as  we  have  shown,  disallow 
ing  wine  not  mixed  with  water  to  be  drank  even  at 
festivals. 

Young  men  below  thirty,  and  women  all  their 
lives,  were  forbidden  to  drink  intoxicating  wine  at  all 
as  a  common  beverage. 

And  wine  among  the  Romans,  when  drank  on  ordi 
nary  occasions,  and  by  men  of  character,  was  always 
diluted  with  water.* 

Whereas  among  us,  wine,  intoxicating  wine,  even 
brandied  wine,  is  drank,  and  drank  unmixed,  as  a 
common  beverage,  by  men,  women  and  children ;  and 
drank,  too,  without  reproach,  without  scruple,  and 
perhaps  even  occasionally  on  principle  and  for  con 
science  sake. 

It  is  impossible  to  have  glanced,  even  as  we  have 
done  in  passing,  at  the  opinions  and  practices  of 
primitive  times,  without  being  struck  with  our  mani 
fest  departure  from  that  reserve  and  caution  once 
observed  in  the  use  of  liquors,  the  product  even  of 
the  vineyard  and  the  wine  press. 

*  Potter's  Antiquities. 


LECTURE  No.  VI. 


THINGS,    NOT    NAMES. 

How  wines  called  by  the  same  name  can  be  distinguished  —  Absti 
nence  from  wine  urged  on  the  ground  of  expediency. 

IF  in  primitive  times,  as  has  been  attempted  to  be 
shown,  distinct  kinds  of  wine  actually  existed,  some 
of  which  were  pure,  healthful,  and  a  fit  emblem  of 
mercy ;  and  some  of  which  were  impure,  deleterious, 
and  a  fit  emblem  of  wrath,  it  might  naturally  be 
expected,  it  is  said,  that  products  and  preparations 
so  distinct  in  their  nature  and  opposite  in  their 
effects,  would  invariably  have  been  designated  by 
terms  equally  distinct ;  and  some  of  the  advocates  of 
total  abstinence  may  have  unadvisedly  assumed  that 
such  was  actually  the  case. 

I  say  unadvisedly,  for  though  such  an  assumption 
would  be  verified  by  an  appeal  to  the  sacred  text,  in 
many  cases,  as  we  have  shown,  still  it  would  not  be 
uniformly  and  universally  so  verified,  and  the  dis 
covery  that  it  would  not,  has  by  the  opponents  of 
total  abstinence  been  hailed  as  a  signal  and  decisive 
triumph. 


NO   CONFUSION   OF  THINGS.  149 

With  how  much  reason  it  has  been  so  hailed,  will, 
by  an  attention  to  THINGS,  in  place  of  NAMES,  ulti 
mately  become  apparent. 

For  however  numerous  and  various  and  inter 
changeable  the  terms  may  be,  which  are  used  to 
denote  those  different  kinds  of  vinous  preparations  of 
which  the  Bible  speaks,  all  of  which  terms  in  our 
translation  are  rendered  wine,  the  broad  and  notorious 
fact,  that  a  marked  and  mighty  difference  existed 
between  the  different  kinds  of  such  preparations,  is 
not  a  whit  the  less  undeniable  on  that  account. 

Be  the  confusion  of  terms  then  what  it  may,  there 
is  no  confusion  of  things ;  different  kinds  of  wine 
actually  existed,  and  are  known  to  have  existed,  some 
of  which  were  intoxicating,  and  some  of  which  were 
not  intoxicating. 

The  one  kind  usually  safe  and  salutary,  the  other 
always  dangerous,  often  hurtful,  and  sometimes  even 
deadly. 

By  calling  both  by  the  same  name,  though  they 
were  uniformly  so  called,  which  they  are  not,  would 
not  alter  the  nature  of  either.* 


*  See  the  analysis  of  Scripture  texts  in  Lecture  Third,  from  which 
it  will  appear,  that  though  yayin  in  Hebrew,  like  wine  in  English,  is 
used  for  vinous  beverage  of  every  kind,  tirosh  is  uniformly  used  for 
the  unfermented  fruit  of  the  vine,  as  it  exists  in  the  cluster  on  the 
vine  or  in  the  vat,  and  never  for  the  fermented  fruit  of  the  vine  as  it 
exists  in  the  cask  ;  and  that  ausis  is  used  for  the  droppings  of  the 
juice  from  the  cluster,  or  newly  expressed  in  the  vat,  as  sobhe  seems 
to  be  for  the  same  when  inspissated,  so  that  it  is  not  the  fact  that  in 
Hebrew  no  distinction  is  made  between  the  different  kinds  of  vinous 
beverage,  called  wine  in  English.  ( See  Appendix,  A.) 

NOTT.  *13 


150  NOT    DIFFICULT   TO    DISTINGUISH. 

But  if  both  kinds  of  wine  are  called  by  the  same 
name,  how  can  the  two  be  distinguished?  How? 
As  other  dissimilar  things  are  distinguished  by  their 
distinctive  attributes  and  effects. 

When  the  fruit  of  the  vine  is  spoken  of  at  one 
time  as  the  symbol  of  mercy,  and  at  another  time  as 
the  symbol  of  wrath,  even  though  the  same  terms 
were  used  in  both  cases,  would  it  follow  that  they 
were  used  in  both  in  the  same  sense,  and  that  in  both 
the  same  kind  of  wine  was  in  the  contemplation  of 
the  prophet  ? 

There  is  a  kind  of  vinous  preparation,  pure,  bland, 
cheering,  a  fit  emblem  of  mercy ;  and  there  is  also 
another  kind  of  vinous  preparation,  impure,  deleteri 
ous,  demoralizing,  maddening,  a  fit  emblem  of  wrath. 

And  whatever  may  be  the  similarity,  or  even  iden 
tity  of  terms  employed  in  referring  to  these  distinct 
kinds  of  preparation  as  emblems,  who  would  be  at  a 
loss  to  divine  which  of  these  two  kinds  of  prepara 
tion  was  referred  to  as  an  emblem  of  mercy,  and 
which  as  an  emblem  of  wrath  ? 

If  "  teetotalers"  cannot  in  all  cases  prove  by  ver 
bal  criticism,  when  wine  is  spoken  of  in  terms  of 
commendation,  that  unintoxicating  wine  is  meant, 
because  the  terms  employed  are  common  to  both 
intoxicating  and  unintoxicating  wines,  their  oppo 
nents,  be  it  remembered,  cannot,  for  the  same  reason, 
prove  the  contrary. 

What  the  truth  is,  however,  is  not  the  less  disco 
verable  on  that  account.  For  the  real  question  at 
issue  is  not  a  question  of  words,  but  of  facts. 


ILLUSTRATION   BY   ANALOGY.  151 

Whether  distinct  kinds  of  vinous  preparations,  the 
one  intoxicating  and  the  other  not,  actually  existed 
in  the  Holy  Land,  and  whether  the  Bible  recognizes 
their  existence,  and  not  whether  they  are  always 
designated  by  different  names,  is  what  concerns  us  to 
know. 

And  the  fact  that  such  distinct  kinds  of  wine  did 
exist,  the  one  intoxicating  and  the  other  not,  and  that 
the  Bible  does  recognize  their  existence,  are  facts,  and 
facts  which  denial  cannot  alter. 

More  than  this  the  friends  of  total  abstinence  from 
all  that  intoxicates  may  not  claim,  and  more  than  this 
the  cause  of  total  abstinence  does  not  require. 

Let  us  attempt  an  illustration  by  analogy. 

What  we  call  bread  may  either  be  made  of  the 
flour  of  wheat,  of  rye,  of  corn,  of  barley,  of  oats — 
or  it  may  be  made  of  the  starch  of  the  potato,  or  of 
various  other  farinaceous  vegetables ;  it  may  be  made 
even  of  bran,  even  of  spurred  rye,  than  which  few 
poisons  are  more  destructive  to  the  health  or  fatal  to 
the  life  of  man.  Moreover,  the  same  may  be  fer 
mented  or  unfermented — debased  by  the  mixture  of 
innutritions  ingredients,  and  even  of  the  most  deadly 
poisons;  but  however  made,  or  of  whatever  made, 
it  is  still  called  bread. 

But  because  it  is  so  called,  are  we  to  believe  when 
bread  is  spoken  of  in  terms  of  commendation,  that 
that  among  all  the  kinds  of  bread  which  exist,  the 
very  vilest  of  them  all  is  had  in  contemplation ;  or 
because  the  use  of  bread  is  sanctioned  in  the  Bible, 
sanctioned  habitually,  sanctioned  even  at  the  com- 


152  MIXED  WINES. 

munion  table,  are  we  to  believe  that  the  use  of  that 
sort  of  bread  which  is  known  to  be  destructive  of 
health,  and  even  of  life,  is  therefore  sanctioned? 

And  that  although  it  might  be  well  to  partake 
sparingly  of  this  bread  of  disease  and  death,  still  to 
abstain  from  its  use  altogether,  since  the  use  of  bread 
is  authorized  by  the  Bible,  would  be  both  ultra  and 
fanatical  ? 

Who  does  not  know  that  MIXED  vinous  beverages 
are  sometimes  spoken  of  in  the  Bible,  in  terms  of 
commendation,  and  at  other  times  in  terms  of  con 
demnation?  And  who  does  not  also  know  that  a 
corresponding  difference  existed  in  the  mixtures  them 
selves  ? 

Some  being  mixed  with  pure  water  or  healthful 
medicaments,  and  some  with  deleterious  drugs — the 
former  by  wisdom  for  her  abstemious  votaries,  the 
latter  by  folly  for  her  licentious  guests. 

And  who,  knowing  this,  will  believe  that  because 
both  preparations  are  called  MIXED  WINES,  it  cannot, 
therefore,  be  known,  when  these  terms  occur,  which 
mixture  is  meant  ?  And  because  it  cannot,  that  all 
the  commendations  of  "mixed  wines"  contained  in 
the  Bible  may  be  legitimately  claimed  for  those  stupe 
fying  or  maddening  mixtures,  prepared  for  idolators 
in  their  worship,  for  convicts  at  their  executions,  or 
even  for  the  guests  of  harlots  in  their  adulterous 
chambers? 

Be  the  identity  of  the  terms  employed  what  it 
may,  the  distinctness  of  the  mixtures  indicated  by 


WHICH   IS  THE   BEST  WINE.  153 

their  use,  is  not  a  whit  the  less  real  or  intelligible  on 
that  account. 

The  same  may  be  said,  and  with  equal  truth,  of 
unmixed  vinous  beverages. 

The  good  and  the  bad  stand  out  in  contrast  on  the 
sacred  page  ;  and  not  the  less  distinguishable  because 
both  are  sometimes  designated  by  one  common  name. 
Each  kind  being  made  apparent,  notwithstanding 
this  identity  of  name,  by  the  manner  of  its  use,  the 
effects  produced,  or  by  the  terms  of  praise  or  dispraise 
joined  in  the  context. 

Since  then,  there  existed,  and  was  known  by  the 
sacred  writers  to  have  existed  in  Palestine,  different 
kinds  of  wine,  distinct  in  their  nature  and  opposite 
in  their  effects ;  the  one  safe  and  salutary,  the  other 
dangerous  and  sometimes  deadly — the  one  the  pure 
juice  of  the  grape — the  other  the  juice  of  the  grape 
after  having  become  deleterious,  by  a  change  wrought 
therein  by  continued  fermentation  or  by  drugging ; 
since  these  two  kinds  of  wine  existed,  and  were 
known  to  exist,  will  it  be  pretended,  wrhen  wine  is 
spoken  of,  at  one  time  as  an  emblem  of  mercy  and 
at  another  as  an  emblem  of  wrath — that  it  cannot 
in  either  case  be  known  which  kind  of  wine  was  in 
the  contemplation  of  the  speaker?  And  if  so,  why? 

Is  it  because  it  cannot  be  known  which  kind  of 
wine,  the  good  or  the  bad,  is  the  fitter  emblem  of 
mercy,  and  which  of  wrath  ?  or  whether  the  bad  and 
the  good  are  not  each  equally  fitted  to  become  an 
emblem  of  either? 


154  THE   CONNECTION   INDICATES   IT. 

When  Moses  speaks  of  a  wine  that  dishonored 
Noah,  that  polluted  Lot — a  wine  that  is  the  poison 
of  dragons,  and  the  cruel  venom  of  asps — when 
Isaiah  speaks  of  a  wine  that  causes  priests  and  even 
prophets  to  err  in  vision  and  stumble  in  judgment, 
so  that  it  could  be  said  in  reference  to  its  effects  : 
"  All  tables  are  full  of  vomit  and  filthiness,  and  there 
is  no  place  clean" — when  Solomon  speaks  of  a  wine 
that  is  a  mocker,  that  biteth  like  a  serpent  and 
stingeth  like  an  adder — that  causeth  wounds  and 
sorrow,  and  may  not  even  be  looked  upon — when 
Asaph  speaks  of  a  wine  of  retribution,  poured  from 
a  cup  in  the  hand  of  God,  the  dregs  whereof  are  to 
be  wrung  out  and  drank  by  the  wicked ;  is  it  to  be 
believed  that  the  wine  in  question  is  the  same  kind 
of  wine  as  that  which  wisdom  mingles ;  to  which 
wisdom  invites — a  wine  fitly  joined  with  bread  and 
oil,  and  milk  and  honey,  a  wine  that  not  only  sus 
tains  the  life  but  makes  glad  the  heart  of  man  ?  Is 
this  to  be  believed,  and  believed  in  the  face  of  so 
much  evidence  to  the  contrary,  because  vinous  pre 
parations,  however  distinct  in  their  nature  and  oppo 
site  in  their  effects,  are  designated  by  the  same  name 
in  the  English  Bible,  and  often  even  in  the  Greek 
and  Hebrew? 

But  do  not  the  very  terms  of  the  text  alluded  to, 
"  And  wine  that  maketh  glad  the  heart  of  man,"  do 
not  these  terms  show  that  the  wine  in  the  contem 
plation  of  the  Psalmist  was  inebriating  wine  ?  Not 
in  the  judgment  of  "teetotalers,"  and  why  should  they 
be  thought  to  do  this  in  the  judgment  of  other  men  ? 


WINES   DISTINCT   IN   THEIR   EFFECTS.  155 

Is  it  because  no  joy  ever  arises  in  the  bosom  of 
the  pious  vine  dresser,  when,  weary  and  exhausted, 
he  reclines  beneath  the  shadow  of  his  vine,  breathes 
the  peculiar  fragrance  of  its  opening  blossom,  tastes 
the  rich  flavor  of  its  ripened  fruits,  or  allays  his  burn 
ing  thirst  with  the  delicious  and  refreshing  beverage 
pressed  fresh  from  its  overhanging  clusters  ? 

Although  the  sensualist,  insensible  to  the  gratitude 
that  ought  to  be  called  forth  by  these  bounties  of 
Providence,  can  perceive  no  gladness  that  could  have 
been  excited  in  the  bosom  of  the  Israelite  by  the 
contemplation  of  the  vine,  except  that  which  springs 
from  the  intoxicating  poison  which  its  fermented  juice 
contains,  still  there  are  those  who  can,  and  it  is  quite 
possible  that  the  Psalmist  did. 

The  wine  commended  by  David  was  wine  that 
causes  joy  and  gladness;  that  is  associated  with  oil 
that  causes  man's  face  to  shine,  and  bread  that 
strengtheneth  man's  heart.  Whereas  the  wine  con 
demned  by  Solomon  was  wine  that  causes  "  woe  and 
sorrow,"  is  associated  with  "  redness  of  eyes  and 
wounds  without  cause." 

With  what  color  of  reason  are  wines  producing 
such  opposite  effects  believed  to  be  one  and  the  same 
article  ? 

And  yet  for  the  latter  intoxicating,  dementing,  soul 
destroying  beverage,  are  claimed  all  the  commenda 
tions  of  wine  contained  in  the  Bible,  as  confidently 
and  exclusively  as  if  IT  were  the  only  beverage  that 
the  vine  produced,  or  that  God  when  speaking  ef 
the  vine  regarded ;  as  confidently  and  exclusively  as 


156     SCRIPTUKE    COMMENDATIONS   INTELLIGIBLE. 

if  the  vine  dresser  derived  no  joys  from  breathing 
the  fragrance,  or  reclining  beneath  the  shadow  of  his 
vine ;  as  if  the  clusters  that  hung  from  its  richly 
laden  branches  neither  served  to  allay  his  hunger  or 
quench  his  thirst ;  in  one  word,  as  confidently  as  if 
the  eye  of  the  prophet,  as  he  delivered  his  eulogium, 
overlooking  so  many  benefits  and  blessings,  were  like 
the  eye  of  the  wine  bibber,  fixed  only  on  the  trea 
cherous,  maddening  contents  of  the  intoxicating 
chalice. 

And  yet,  had  the  process  of  producing  intoxicating 
wine  never  been  discovered,  nor  a  drop  of  intoxica 
ting  wine  produced,  the  commendations  of  the  vine 
contained  in  the  Bible  would  not  have  been  a  whit 
the  less  intelligible  or  pertinent  or  proper  on  that 
account. 

And  were  that  discovery  lost,  the  fact  of  its  exist 
ence  forgotten,  and  the  very  law  of  God,  by  which 
it  is  produced,  obliterated  from  the  book  of  nature, 
no  obliterations  would  in  consequence  be  required 
from  the  book  of  revelation,  except  only  the  oblitera 
tions  of  the  cautions  therein  contained  in  relation  to 
the  juice  of  the  grape,  in  form  of  intoxicating  wine ; 
and  except,  also,  the  recorded  condemnation  of  that 
drunkenness  that  springs  from  the  use  of  such 
wine. 

All  else  that  had  been  written,  and  written  in 
commendation  of  the  grape  and  the  vine,  and  the 
vineyard  and  the  wine  press,  might  remain  untouched, 
and  would  not,  I  repeat  it,  be  a  whit  the  less  intelli 
gible  or  pertinent  or  proper  than  before. 


DR.    DUFF.  157 

That  the  voluntary  transformation  of  the  fruit  of 
the  vine  or  orchard,  or  the  barley  field,  into  intoxi 
cating  liquor  by  continuous  fermentation  is  a  profa 
nation,  I  will  not  affirm ;  nor  will  I  affirm  that  the 
article  so  produced  in  certain  cases  may  not  be  useful 
and  used  with  innocence — but  I  will  affirm  that  for 
the  wine  bibber  to  claim  for  intoxicating  wine  the 
exclusive  commendations  pronounced  by  Moses  and 
the  Prophets  in  favor  of  the  vine  and  the  vineyards  of 
the  Holy  Land,  is  as  absurd  as  it  would  be  for  the 
cider  drinker  to  claim  in  like  manner  for  cider,  the 
commendation  of  the  apple  tree  by  Solomon,  or  the 
beer  drinker  for  beer,  the  commendation  of  barley 
by  Jeremiah,  or  even  the  whiskey  drinker  for  whis 
key,  those  beautiful  allusions  of  the  Savior  himself, 
to  the  husbandman,  the  harvest  field  and  the  reapers.* 


*  Says  the  Rev.  Dr.  Duff,  "  In  these  countries  mantled  with  vine 
yards,  one  cannot  help  learning  the  true  intent  and  use  of  the  vine 
in  the  scheme  of  Providence.  In  our  own  land  wine  has  become  so 
exclusively  a  mere  luxury,  or  what  is  worse,  by  a  species  of  manu 
facture,  an  intoxicating  beverage,  that  many  have  wondered  how  the 
Bible  speaks  of  wine,  in  conjunction  with  corn,  and  other  such  staple 
supports  of  animal  life.  Now,  in  passing  through  the  region  of  vine 
yards  in  the  east  of  France,  one  must  at  once  perceive  that  the  vine 
greatly  flourishes  on  slopes  and  heights,  where  the  soil  is  too  poor  and 
gravelly  to  maintain  either  corn  for  food  or  pasture  for  cattle.  But 
what  is  the  providential  design  in  rendering  this  soil  —  favored  by  a 
genial  atmosphere  —  so  productive  of  the  vine,  if  its  fruits  become 
solely  either  an  article  of  luxury  or  an  instrument  of  vice  1  The 
answer  is,  that  Providence  had  no  such  design.  Look  at  the  peasant 
and  his  meals  in  vine  bearing  districts.  Instead  of  milk,  he  has  a 
basin  of  pure  unadulterated  '  blood  of  the  grape.'  In  this,  its 
native,  original  state,  it  is  a  plain,  simple  and  wholesome  liquid; 

Norr.  1 4 


158  CASE   HERE    DIFFERENT  TO  THAT  OF  ANCIENTS. 

As  healthful,  sober,  as  well  as  deleterious  intoxi 
cating  wines  existed,  and  as  the  same  terms  are  fre 
quently  applied  indiscriminately  to  both,  it  is  not 
and  cannot  be  shown  to  be  certain  that  deleterious 
intoxicating  wine  is  even  spoken  of  with  approbation 
throughout  the  entire  Bible. 

But  though  it  were  otherwise,  though  the  com 
mendations  of  the  vine  in  the  Bible  were  merely 
commendations  of  intoxicating  wine — and  though  it 
were  admitted  that  the  habitual  use  of  such  wine  as 
a  beverage  were  both  safe  and  salutary  in  Palestine, 
it  would  not  follow  that  such  use  of  it  would  be  either 
safe  or  salutary  here.* 


which,  at  every  repast,  becomes  to  the  husbandman  what  milk  is  to 
the  shepherd  —  not  a  luxury,  but  a  necessary  —  not  an  intoxicating, 
but  a  nutritive  beverage.  Hence,  to  the  vine  dressing  peasant  of 
Auxerre,  for  example,  an  abundant  vintage,  as  connected  with  his 
own  immediate  sustenance,  is  as  important  as  an  overflowing  dairy  to 
the  pastoral  peasant  of  Ayrshire.  And  hence,  by  such  a  view  of  the 
subject,  are  the  language  and  the  sense  of  the  Scripture  vindicated 
from  the  very  appearance  of  favoring  what  is  merely  luxurious  or 
positively  noxious,  when  it  so  constantly  magnifies  a  well  replenished 
wine  press,  in  a  rocky'  mountainous  country,  like  that  of  Palestine, 
as  one  of  the  richest  bounties  of  a  generous  Providence." 

*  Intoxicating  wine  here  is  not  what  it  was  in  Palestine.  Even 
Palm  wine,  the  strong  drink  of  Scripture,  contained  but  very  little 
alcohol. 

The  strongest  native  wine  which  the  mere  fruit  of  the  vine  pro 
duces,  contains  only  about  one-third  of  the  alcoholic  poisons 
contained  in  the  stronger  and  more  favorite  alcoholic  wines  here  in 
use. 

In  view  of  this  fact,  would  it  follow  that  because  it  was  Scriptural 
to  drink  the  alcoholic  wines  of  Palestine,  that  it  was  also  Scriptural 
to  drink  our  intoxicating  wines,  in  which  so  much  intenser  poisons 


CORRUPTION   BY   DISTILLED    LIQUORS.  159 

Here  the  use  of  wine,  by  moderate  drinkers,  creates 
the  taste  and  prepares  the  way  for  the  use  of  brandy, 
and,  among  reclaimed  inebriates,  reestablishes  the 
taste  and  reopens  the  way  for  a  return  to  it  again. 

We  are  no  longer  what  we  once  were,  distinguished 
for  sobriety. 

In  this  one  respect  at  least  we  have  changed  for  the 
worse  our  social  character,  all  classes  of  community 
having,  previous  to  the  late  attempt  at  reformation, 
acquired  the  taste  and  become  accustomed  to  the  use, 
in  some  of  its  forms,  of  alcoholic  stimulants  ;  so  that, 
not  without  reason,  a  distinguished  statesman  not 
long  since  said  that  we  were  in  danger  of  becoming 
a  nation  of  drunkards — and  it  is  well  if  this  be  not 
even  still  the  case. 

Long  familiarized  to  the  use  of  distilled  liquors, 
and  corrupted  by  that  use,  we  cannot  (however 
others  might)  safely  indulge  in  the  use  of  mere  fer 
mented  liquors ;  so  that  could  we  obtain  the  fermented 
wines  of  Spain,  France,  Italy,  or  even  of  the  Holy 
Land,  no  matter  in  what  purity  or  abundance,  with 
our  present  love  of  rum,  gin,  brandy,  and  even 


are  contained  7  And  even  though  this  absurdity  would  follow,  the 
argument  in  favor  of  the  use  of  wine  by  us,  under  existing  circum 
stances,  would  still  be  inconclusive.  We  live  in  a  different  age. 
Our  climate,  our  constitution,  our  habits,  are  different  from  those  of 
the  ancient  dwellers  in  the  Holy  Land. 

And  besides,  since  the  canon  of  scripture  was  completed,  distilla 
tion  has  been  invented,  or  at  least,  introduced  into  Europe.  Hence, 
we  have  come  into  the  possession  of  vastly  intenser  stimulants  than 
the  strongest  wines  in  the  Holy  Land  furnished. 


160  QUESTIONS   PUT. 

whiskey,  and  our  facilities  for  procuring  them,  even 
such  wines  and  in  such  abundance,  it  is  believed, 
would  not  prove  a  blessing  but  a  curse ;  so  that  with 
our  propensities  and  habits,  the  only  alternative  is 
abstinence  or  ruin. 

I  am  aware  that  "  teetotalism,"  as  it  is  called,  is 
smiled  at  by  some  as  a  weakness,  ridiculed  by  others 
as  a  folly,  and  by  others  censured  as  a  crime ;  and  I 
am  also  aware  that  there  is  nothing  imposing  or 
exclusive  in  the  use  of  water,  that  common  beverage 
furnished  by  God  himself  in  such  abundance  for  the 
convenience  and  comfort  of  man ;  and  that  he  who 
uses  no  other  beverage,  must  remain  a  stranger  to 
that  transient  and  fitful  joy,  that  alternates  with  a 
corresponding  sorrow  in  the  bosoms  of  those  who 
indulge  in  the  more  fashionable  use  of  intoxicating 
liquors.  Still,  in  the  view  of  that  withered  intellect, 
those  blighted  hopes,  those  unnatural  crimes,  and 
that  undying  misery,  that  the  use  of  these  liquors 
everywhere  occasions,  I  put  it  to  the  candor  of  every 
ingenuous  man  who  hears  me,  even  among  those  who 
still  indulge  in  that  use,  whether  we  who  have  abjured 
it,  have  not,  under  the  existing  state  of  things,  a  very 
intelligible  and  weighty  reason  for  our  conduct  ? 

Will  not  the  thought,  as  you  return  to  your  homes 
to-night  and  sit  down  amid  a  virtuous  and  beloved 
family,  but  a  family  familiarized  to  the  use  of  intoxi 
cating  liquors  in  some  of  those  forms  which  fashion 
sanctions  —  will  not  the  thought  that  those  same 
liquors,  to  the  temperate  use  of  which  you  are 
accustoming  your  household,  must  be  to  them  the 


WHY   RELINQUISH   ABUSED    COMFORTS?          161 

occasion  of  so  much  peril ;  perhaps  of  so  much 
suffering  ;  suffering  in  which,  though  they  escape,  so 
many  other  human  beings  must  participate; — will 
not  the  thought  of  this  mar  the  pleasure  to  be  derived 
from  that  cup  which  is  to  be  hereafter,  as  it  has  here 
tofore  been  to  multitudes  who  drank  of  it,  the  cup 
of  death  ? 

Will  not  the  thought  of  those  uncounted  thousands 
who  have  lived  and  died  accursed  on  this  planet,  in 
consequence  of  intoxicating  liquors  ;  and  those  other 
and  yet  other  thousands  who  will  hereafter  so  live 
and  die  upon  it,  as  long  as  the  use  of  such  liquors 
shall  continue  to  be  tolerated ;  and  will  not  the 
thought  of  this  wanton,  gratuitous  and  unmeasured 
misery  abate  somewhat  the  displeasure  you  have 
felt,  and  soften  the  severity  of  the  censures  in  which 
you  have  indulged  against  those  who  have  combined 
to  banish  the  use  of  those  liquors  as  a  beverage  from 
the  earth?  More  than  this,  will  it  not  induce  you, 
after  all,  to  cooperate  with  us  in  consummating  so 
humane  and  benevolent  an  enterprise  ? 

Not  now  to  question  the  healthfulness  of  the  wines 
of  Palestine  and  of  other  grape  bearing  countries, 
when  obtained  in  purity  and  used  in  moderation; 
not  now  to  question  your  ability  so  to  obtain  such 
wines,  or  your  disposition  so  to  use  them  when 
obtained ;  still,  considering  what  multitudes  there  are 
who  cannot  so  obtain  those  wines,  and  who  would 
not  so  use  them  if  they  could ;  considering  the  taste 
that  has  already  been  created  by  other  and  stronger 
stimulants ;  considering  the  impossibility  of  correcting 
NOTT.  *14 


162  LIMITS   TO   THE   LAW    OF   LOVE. 

that  taste  and  of  reclaiming  the  drunken,  or  of 
preventing  the  drinker  from  hereafter  becoming 
drunken,  while  custom  everywhere  pampers  appetite, 
and  fashion  on  every  side  invites  her  guests,  her 
deluded  guests,  to  partake  of  other  banquets  than 
those  of  wine :  considering  these  things,  is  there 
not  a  cause  for  questioning  the  wisdom  of  existing 
habits,  and  making  one  great  united  effort  to  effect  a 
change  ? 

But  why  should  we  relinquish  comforts*  because 
others  abuse  them  ?  Why  ?  Because  it  is  great, 
and  good,  and  God-like  to  do  so.  Needs  it  to  be  told 
in  this  assembly  who  it  was  that  being  rich,  became 
poor  for  the  sake  of  others,  even  for  our  sakes? 
Since  the  Son  of  God  hath  visited  the  earth  on  an 
errand  of  mercy,  reason,  conscience,  religion,  sanction 
self-denials,  especially  among  that  race  he  came  to 
save,  and  on  that  planet  where  he  submitted  to  his 
privations,  endured  his  sufferings  and  planted  his 
cross. 

True,  there  are  limits  to  this  law  of  love.  But 
the  sacrifice  in  question  comes  within  those  limits. 
So  Paul  thought.  Though  an  inhabitant  of  Palestine, 
the  land  of  vines  and  vineyards,  he  deemed  it  not 
only  admissible,  but  also  "  good  neither  to  drink  wine, 
nor  anything  whereby  thy  brother  stumblcth,  or  is  offended 
or  is  made  weak." 

Do  you  inquire,  Who  is  my  brother  ?  So  inquired 
a  lawyer,  "Who  is  my  neighbor?"  You  remember 
that  beautiful  and  touching  narrative  in  which  the 
answer  was  conveyed ;  you  remember  the  hapless 


ABSTINENCE   REQUIRED   FOR   EXAMPLE. 

Jew  who  fell  among  thieves ;  you  remember  the 
unfeeling  priest  and  Levite  who  having  stood  and 
looked  upon  the  sufferer,  passed  by  on  the  other  side, 
and  left  a  countryman  to  perish  ;  you  remember  the 
good  Samaritan  who  flew  to  a  stranger's  and  alien's 
rescue ;  and  you  remember  too  who  it  was  that  said, 
"  Go  thou  and  do  likewise." 

0 !  it  is  not  to  the  narrow  circle  of  kindred  and 
of  caste  that  the  charities  of  man's  common  brother 
hood  are  confined.  The  men  around  you  are  your 
brethren — bone  of  your  bone  and  flesh  of  your  flesh. 
God  hath  not  only  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  to 
dwell  upon  the  earth,  but  he  hath  also  bound  together 
by  ties  of  reciprocal  dependence  the  different  classes 
of  the  men  which  compose  those  nations. 

It  is  for  you,  ye  rich  men  who  live  in  affluence  and 
ease,  it  is  for  you  that  the  husbandman  toils  and 
sweats  by  day,  and  the  shepherd  wakes  and  watches 
by  night. 

You  owe  the  raiment  you  wear,  the  dwelling  you 
inhabit,  the  furniture  you  use — you  owe  the  sofa  on 
which  you  recline,  the  carriages  in  which  you  ride  — 
the  steam  car  that  conveys  you  by  land,  and  the 
steamboat  by  sea,  with  so  much  dispatch  and  ease  in 
your  excursions  of  pleasure  and  business,  to  the  skill 
and  industry  of  the  artificer ;  while  that  sailor  boy 
that  climbs  the  mast,  that  breasts  the  storm  and 
perils  his  life  upon  the  ocean,  does  this  to  furnish  for 
your  possession  and  enjoyment  the  comforts  and  the 
luxuries  of  other  and  distant  countries. 


164    APOLOGIES  FOR  THE  POOR  DRUNKARD. 

But  for  these  men,  the  men  who  conduct  the  agri 
culture,  and  the  manufacture,  and  the  commerce  of 
the  world ;  but  for  these  men,  you  and  yours  must 
perish  ;  or  putting  off  your  ornaments  and  relinquish 
ing  your  life  of  ease,  you  must  betake  yourselves  to 
the  practice  of  those  self-denials  and  the  endurance 
of  those  hardships  which  these  men  in  your  behalf 
now  practice  and  endure. 

It  is  in  behalf  of  these  men,  the  sufferers  of  so 
many  privations,  and  at  the  same  time  the  producers 
of  so  many  comforts ;  it  is  in  behalf  of  these  men, 
to  whose  wearisome  days  and  sleepless  nights  you 
are  so  much  indebted,  it  is  in  behalf  of  these  men 
that  we  wish  to  apply  the  apostolic  maxim  :  "It  is 
good  not  to  drink  wine  or  any  thing  whereby  thy 
brother  stumbleth,  or  is  offended  or  is  made  weak." 

You  have,  as  you  affirm,  the  self-command  to  avoid 
excess.  Be  it  so.  Still  they  by  whose  industry  you 
subsist,  have  not.  You  have  the  knowledge  to  dis 
tinguish  the  pure  from  the  adulterated.  They  have 
not ;  and  even  if  they  had,  they  want  the  ability  to 
profit  by  that  knowledge.  So  long,  therefore,  as  you 
continue  the  use  of  the  former,  they  will  remain  the 
victims  of  the  latter. 

It  is  not  in  man  to  be  insensible  to  the  influence 
of  fashion,  or  to  set  at  naught  the  power  of  example. 
If  you  cannot  forego  the  exhilaration  of  wine,  you, 
living  at  ease  and  surrounded  by  comforts,  how 
should  it  be  expected  that  they  should  forego  the 
exhilaration  of  whiskey,  they,  exhausted  by  fatigue 
and  exasperated  by  privations  ? 


EXHORTATION.  165 

Know  you  not  that  the  poor  drunken  day  laborer, 
standing  with  his  tin  cup  and  rum  jug  in  his  hand, 
finds  an  apology  for  his  conduct  in  the  demijohn  and 
wine  glass  of  his  rich  and  moderate  drinking  employer; 
and  that  from  those  who  lack  fortitude  and  self-denial 
to  abandon  the  one,  exhortations  come  with  an  ill 
grace  for  the  abandonment  of  the  other  ? 

And  yet  the  other  must  be  abandoned,  or  the 
mother  continue  to  mourn,  the  wife  and  the  widow 
to  suffer,  and  the  orphan  to  supplicate. 

Nay,  the  poor-house,  the  prison-house,  the  house 
of  silence,  and  even  the  hell  that  lies  beyond  it,  must 
continue  hereafter,  as  heretofore,  to  be  supplied 
gratuitously,  prematurely,  and  in  numbers ;  numbers 
who  might  otherwise  have  lived  for  usefulness  on  the 
earth,  and  honor  and  immortality  in  heaven ;  Oh ! 
for  their  sakes,  if  not  for  your  own,  we  urge — we 
entreat  you  to  lend  to  this  enterprise  the  countenance 
of  your  example ;  especially  for  the  sake  of  those 
who  have  already  fallen,  or  who  are  about  to  fall. 

Christians,  patriots,  men  of  humanity !  will  you 
not  come  along  with  us  to  their  rescue,  who,  mis 
guided  by  the  example  and  emboldened  by  the  coun 
sel  of  others,  have  ventured  onward  in  a  course 
which  threatens  to  prove  fatal  alike  to  their  health, 
their  happiness  and  their  salvation  ? 

Will  you  not,  in  place  of  casting  additional  impedi 
ments  in  the  way  of  their  return,  contribute  to 
remove  those  which  already  exist,  and  which,  without 
such  assistance,  they  will  remain  forever  alike  unable 
to  surmount  or  remove  ? 


166  PEE  VAILING  USAGES. 

On  your  part  the  sacrifice  will  be  small,  on  theirs 
the  benefit  conferred  immense  ;  a  sacrifice  not  indeed 
without  requital ;  for  you  shall  share  the  joy  of  their 
rejoicing  friends  on  earth,  and  their  rejoicing  friends 
in  Heaven,  who,  when  celebrating  their  returns  to 
God,  shall  say :  "  This,  our  son,  our  brother,  our 
neighbor,  was  lost  and  is  found,  was  dead  and  is  alive 
again." 

You  see,  Christians,  that  although  you  lived  in 
Canaan,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Cana  of  Galilee 
where  water  was  changed  into  wine,  you  would  not 
be  authorized  to  use  wine  as  we  now  use  it,  and 
that  you  would  not  be  required  even  to  use  it  at  all ; 
that  they  were  not  saints,  but  men  who  forgot  God, 
concerning  whom  it  is  recorded  "  that  the  viol  and 
the  tabret,  and  the  harp  and  wine  is  in  their  feasts," 
and  that  its  use  as  a  beverage  is  nowhere  commanded ; 
that  large  classes  of  men,  and  men  approved  of  God, 
abstained  wholly  from  its  use ;  and  that  it  is  not  only 
lawful,  but  befitting  for  Christians  always  so  to 
abstain,  when  the  circumstances  of  those  around 
them  call  for  such  abstinence. 

This  you  see,  and  seeing  this,  I  ask  what,  under 
present  circumstances,  is  your  duty  ? 

In  view  of  the  prevailing  usages  of  society  in 
which  you  live,  and  the  obvious  inroads  drunkenness 
is  making  on  that  society  ;  in  view  of  that  frightful 
number  of  ministers  at  the  altar  and  advocates  at  the 
bar,  whom  drunkennesss,  robbing  the  church  and  the 
world  of  their  services,  has  demented  arid  dishonored ; 
in  view  of  those  master  spirits  in  the  field  and  the 


WOULD    PAUL    SO    HAVE    USED    IT?  167 

Senate  chamber,  whom  drunkenness  has  mastered; 
in  view  of  those  families  made  wretched,  those 
youth  corrupted,  and  those  poor-houses  and  prison- 
houses  and  graveyards  peopled — and  peopled  with 
beings  made  guilty  and  wretched  by  drunkenness ;  I 
put  it  to  your  conscience,  Christians,  whether  at  such 
a  time  and  under  such  circumstances  you  would 
be  at  liberty,  though  supplied  with  wine  made 
from  the  grapes  of  Eshcol,  to  use  it  as  a  beverage  ? 

At  such  a  time  and  under  such  circumstances 
would  Paul  so  have  used  it  ? 

Would  Timothy,  or  any  other  of  those  suffering 
and  self-denying  men,  sent  forth  to  reform  the  man 
ners  of  the  age  in  which  they  lived,  and  teach  man 
kind  the  way  of  salvation;  would  these  men,  or 
either  of  them,  were  an  effort  making — no  matter  by 
whom,  or  with  what  want  of  insinuation  of  address 
or  sauvity  of  manner — to  stem  the  torrent  of  licen 
tiousness,  to  change  the  current  of  public  opinion, 
and  purify  the  church  and  the  world  from  drunken 
ness,  would  these  men,  in  such  a  state  of  things, 
array  themselves  on  the  side  of  the  many  who  drank, 
and  against  the  few  who  abstained  from  drinking  ? 
Would  they  hesitate,  and  waver,  and  finally  draw 
back  and  refuse  to  cooperate?  Above  all,  would 
they  lend  their  influence  to  weaken  the  resolution  of 
the  wavering,  to  reassure  the  faltering  courage  of 
the  drinker,  and  to  relieve  the  conscience  of  the 
drunkard  by  drinking  themselves — moderately,  I 
admit,  but  still  by  drinking  and  by  declaiming  against 
the  fanaticism  of  all  who  refuse  to  drink  ? 


168  THE    POSITION   TO    BE    CHOSEN. 

I  know  not  how  others  might,  but  I  do  not  believe 
that  Apostles  or  Apostolic  men  would  act  thus ;  and 
I  dare  not,  therefore,  act  thus  myself. 

If,  between  the  ultraism  of  relinquishing  the  use 
of  even  wine,  and  the  ultraism  of  continuing  to  use 
it  under  existing  circumstances,  I  am  called  to  choose, 
it  behoves  me  to  make  the  choice  of  safety,  not  of 
danger. 

And  it  seems  to  me  that  if  I  knew  the  day  of 
judgment  were  at  hand,  as  the  day  of  death  is,  and 
were  that  day  to  come  suddenly,  as  the  day  of  death 
may  come,  I  should  prefer  that  my  judge  should  find 
me  standing  and  acting  with  a  few  fanatics,  among 
whom  no  drunkards,  already  declared  to  be  excluded 
from  the  kingdom  of  God,  could  be  found,  than  with 
that  multitude  among  whom,  though  no  fanatics, 
many  drunkards  might  be  numbered;  and  many 
others,  who,  though  not  now  drunkards,  were  pursu 
ing  the  way  to  become  so  thereafter. 

It  was  not  concerning  him  who  drank  with  the 
drunken,  but  concerning  him  who  watched,  that  it 
was  said :  "  Blessed  is  the  servant,  who  when  his 
Lord  cometh,  he  shall  find  so  doing." 

In  conclusion,  I  do  not  ask,  Christians,  whether  you 
are,  or  propose  to  become  members  of  a  temperance 
society ;  or  whether  you  have  taken,  or  propose  to 
take,  the  old,  or  the  new,  or  the  still  newer  pledge ; 
but  I  do  ask,  whether  you  are  not  bound,  by  the 
very  circumstances  in  which  God  has  placed  you,  to 
refrain  from  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors,  of  every 
name  and  nature,  as  a  beverage,  and  whether  you 


CONCLUSION.  169 

can,  without  sin,  refuse  to  give  your  influence,  your 
whole  influence,  to  the  cause  of  total  abstinence  ? 

Be  it  so,  that  this  cause  has  advocates  who  are 
neither  courteous  nor  conciliating,  that  their  measures 
are  often  ill-chosen,  and  their  spirit  fanatical ;  still  it 
is  to  be  remembered,  that  to  adopt  ill-advised 
measures,  is  not  peculiar  to  the  advocates  of  total 
abstinence,  and  that  whatever  of  fanaticism  there 
may  be  in  its  advocacy,  it  is  all  in  a  safe  direction  ; 
and  for  a  long  time  to  come,  the  interests  of  virtue 
and  religion  will  have  much  less  to  fear  from  restraint 
than  from  indulgence  ;  and  besides,  if  devils  be  cast 
out,  even  by  some  who  follow  not  with  us,  it  were 
wiser  to  encourage  than  forbid  them. 

Paul  rejoiced  when  Christ  was  preached,  though 
preached  out  of  envy,  and  in  the  hope  of  adding 
affliction  to  his  bonds.  So  we,  without  any  sacrifice 
of  principle,  may  rejoice  when  temperance  is  advo 
cated,  though  advocated  by  disguised  enemies  or 
misguided  friends ;  and  though  advocated  in  no  better 
spirit,  or  for  no  higher  end  than  was  apparent  in 
those  invidious  preachers  of  whom  the  Apostle  spoke. 

NOTT.  15 


LECTUEE  No.   VII. 


ADULTERATIONS. 

The  adulteration  of  the  wines  of  commerce — Drunkenness  and 
gluttony  compared  —  Analogy  between  bad  oil,  bad  milk  and  bad 
wine  —  An  appeal  to  Patriots  and  to  Christians. 

IN  the  preceding  lectures  we  have  seen  that  distinct 
kinds  of  vinous  beverages  existed  in  the  Holy  Land ; 
the  one  a  good,  nutritious,  sober  beverage — the  other 
a  bad,  innutritious,  intoxicating  beverage ;  the  one 
conducive  to  health  and  virtue — the  other  to  disease 
and  crime  ;  the  one  suited  in  its  nature  to  the  tempe 
rate  festivals  of  Christians — the  other  to  the  drunken 
revels  of  Pagans  —  and  both  usually  called  by  the 
same  name  in  our  translation  of  the  Bible,  and  often 
in  the  original  itself — that  if  in  consequence  of  this, 
the  advocates  of  total  abstinence  cannot  prove  by 
verbal  criticism,  when  wine  is  commended,  that  unin- 
toxicating  wine  is  meant ;  so  neither,  for  the  same 
reason,  can  their  opponents  prove  the  contrary — that 
uninspired  men  deemed  sober,  moral,  unintoxicating 
wine  the  best,  and  that  the  presumption  is,  that 
in-spired  men  were  of  the  same  opinion  ;  a  presump 
tion  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  such  wine  is  usually 
spoken  of  with  commendation — that  though  it  were 


TOTAL   ABSTINENCE    MOST    IMPERIOUS    HERE.     171 

otherwise,  though  the  Bible  sanctioned  the  intoxica 
ting  wines  of  Palestine,  it  would  not  follow  that  it 
sanctions  our  own  still  more  intoxicating  wines. 

Or,  though  even  this  absurdity  would  follow,  that 
still  the  argument  in  favor  of  wine  drinking  among 
ourselves  would  be  inconclusive — that,  be  the  kind 
of  wine,  the  use  of  which  the  Bible  sanctioned,  what 
it  may,  and  even  though  it  were  conceded,  for  argu 
ment  sake,  to  be  intoxicating — still  that  its  use  was 
not  commanded,  or  commended  as  a  common  beve 
rage  ;  the  multitudes  who  feared  God  and  worked 
righteousness,  never  used  it ;  and  that  circumstances 
were  liable  to  occur,  even  in  Palestine,  that  would 
render  its  use  improper,  and  make  total  abstinence 
even  there  a  duty ;  that  here  the  use  of  such  wine, 
supposing  it  to  be  intoxicating,  wrould  be  less  admis 
sible  and  more  perilous,  because  here  its  effects  would 
be  liable  to  be  aggravated  by  the  action  of  other  and 
intenser  stimulants ;  which  stimulants  are  every 
where  accessible,  and  for  which  a  national  taste  has 
been  already  formed — so  that,  were  the  wines  in  use 
among  us  as  pure  as  the  wines  of  Spain,  France, 
Italy,  or  even  the  Holy  Land,  under  existing  circum 
stances,  total  abstinence  would  be  an  imperious  duty, 
as  it  would  have  been  in  Palestine,  if  then  and  there, 
as  now  and  here,  it  had  caused  a  brother  to  stumble, 
to  offend,  or  to  become  weak. 

How  much  more  imperious  must  that  duty  be  felt 
to  be,  when  it  is  considered  that  generally  and  truly 
speaking,  we  have  no  such  article  as  even  intoxicating 
wine,  in  the  Bible  sense  of  wine,  in  use  among  us. 


172  ADULTERATION   OF   WINE. 

Wine  indeed,  falsely  so  called,  we  have,  and  in 
abundance ;  but  names,  as  we  have  elsewhere  said, 
do  not  alter  the  nature  of  things. 

The  extract  of  logwood  is  not  the  less  the  extract 
of  logwood,  nor  is  the  sugar  of  lead  the  less  the 
sugar  of  lead,  because  combined  with  New  England 
rum,  western  whiskey,  sour  beer,  or  even  Newark 
cider,  put  up  in  wine  casks,  stamped  Port,  Cham- 
paigne,  or  Madeira,  and  sold  under  the  imposing 
sanction  of  the  collector's  purchased  certificate, 
passed  from  hand  to  hand,  and  perhaps  transmitted 
from  father  to  son,  to  give  the  color  of  honesty  to 
cool,  calculating,  heartless  imposition. 

O !  it  was  not  from  the  vineyards  of  any  distant 
grape-bearing  country,  that  those  disguised  poisons, 
sent  abroad  to  corrupt  and  curse  the  country,  were 
derived.  On  the  contrary,  the  ingredients  of  which 
they  are  composed  were  collected  and  mingled,  and 
their  color  and  flavor  imparted,  in  some  of  those 
garrets  above,  or  caverns  beneath,  the  observation  of 
men ;  caverns  fitly  called  hells,  where,  in  our  larger 
cities,  fraud  undisguised  finds  protection,  and  whole 
sale  deeds  of  darkness  are  securely  and  systematically 
performed. 

I  do  not  say  this  on  my  own  mere  authority.  I 
had  a  friend  who  had  been  himself  a  wine  dealer ; 
and  having  read  the  startling  statements,  sometime 
since  made  public  in  relation  to  the  brewing  of  wines, 
and  the  adulteration  of  other  liquors  generally,  I 
inquired  of  that  friend  as  to  the  verity  of  those 
statements.  His  reply  was:  "GOD  FOKGIVE 


FACTS.  173 

what  lias  passed  in  MY  OWN  cellar,  but  the  statements 

MADE,  ARE  TRUE,  ALL  TRUE,  I  assure  yOU." 

That  friend  has  since  gone  to  his  last  account,  as 
have  doubtless  many  of  those  whose  days  on  earth 
were  shortened  by  the  poisons  he  dispensed.  But  I 
still  remember,  and  shall  long  remember,  both  the 
terms  and  tone  of  that  laconic  answer,  "  THE 
STATEMENTS  made  are  true,  all  TRUE,  I  assure  you." 

But  not  on  the  testimony  of  that  friend  does  the 
evidence  of  these  frauds  depend.  Another  friend 
informed  me  that  the  executor  of  a  wine  dealer,  in  a 
city  which  he  named,  assured  him  that  in  the  inven 
tory  of  articles  for  the  manufacture  of  wine,  found 
in  the  cellar  of  that  dealer,  and  which  amounted  to 
many  thousand  dollars,  there  was  not  one  dollar  for 
the  juice  of  the  grape.  And  still  another  friend 
informed  me,  that  in  examining,  as  an  assignee,  the 
papers  of  a  house  in  that  city  which  dealt  in  wines, 
and  which  had  stopped  payment,  he  found  evidence 
of  the  purchase  during  the  preceding  year,  of 
hundreds  of  casks  of  cider,  but  none  of  wine.  Arid 
yet  it  was  not  cider,  but  wine,  which  had  been  sup 
posed  to  have  been  dealt  out  by  that  house  to  its 
confiding  customers. 

I  might  proceed,  but  it  is  unnecessary.  These  are 
not,  and  are  known  not  to  be,  solitary  cases,  but 
samples  merely,  of  what  is  taking  place  in  almost,  if 
not  quite,  all  our  larger  cities,  and  in  many  even  of 
our  towns  and  villages. 

But  to  this  it  is  replied,  that  although  spurious 
wines  may  be  fabricated  at  home,  pure  wine,  and  in 

NOTT.  #16 


174         VINTAGE    OF    OPORTO   USED    IN    LONDON. 

quantity,  is  imported  from  abroad.  Is  it  so  ?  Where 
and  by  whom,  I  ask,  is  pure  wine  imported?  No 
where,  and  by  no  one ;  nor  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
importation  can  it  be.  The  ocean  barrier  lies  between 
us  and  the  vineyards  of  the  east.  The  God  of  nature 
has  placed  it  there,  and  it  cannot  be  removed.  To 
cross  the  sea,  wine  must  be  "  brandied,"  and  is 
"  brandied,"  as  analysis  has  shown. 

And  yet  the  Christian  fathers  refused  the  use  of 
wine,  even  in  the  sacrament,  unless  mixed  and  diluted 
with  water ;  whereas  the  purest  wines  we  use  are 
not  only  fermented,  but  also  mixed  with  brandy,  or 
otherwise  rendered  pungent  and  corrosive,  by  the 
introduction  of  some  other  ingredient,  or  of  alcohol 
in  some  other  if  not  intenser  form. 

Such  is  the  boasted  article,  falsely  called  wine, 
with  which  our  market  is  supplied.  Would  that  it 
was  the  only  article ;  but  it  is  not,  nor  is  it  the  worst. 
Spurious  wines — wines  of  the  vilest  character,  and 
in  the  greatest  quantities,  are  imported  from  abroad, 
as  well  as  manufactured  at  home.  This  the  nation 
does  not  know,  but  they  who  supply  the  nation 
know  this.  In  London  alone,  more  port  wine  is 
drank  than  is  furnished  by  the  entire  vintage  at 
Oporto  ;  and  yet  London  supplies  the  whole  civilized 
world  with  port.  Whence  is  this  excess  derived? 
Not  surely  from  the  vineyards  along  the  banks  of 
the  Douro,  but  from  the  caverns  aside  the  bed  of  the 
Thames.  Nor  from  these  alone.  At  Oporto  itself, 
at  Madeira,  and  elsewhere,  throughout  the  grape 


ARTICLE   FEOM   THE    LONDON   TIMES.  175 

bearing  region,  similar,  if  not  even  greater  frauds,  are 
committed. 

"It  is  not,  perhaps,  generally  known,"  I  quote 
from  the  London  Times,  "  it  is  not,  perhaps,  gener 
ally  known  that  very  large  establishments  exist  at 
Celte  and  Marseilles,  in  the  south  of  France,  for  the 
manufacture  of  eveiy  description  of  wines,  the 
natural  products,  not  only  of  France,  but  of  all  other 
wine  growing  and  wine  exporting  countries ;  some 
of  these  establishments  are  on  so  large  a  scale  as  to 
give  employment  to  an  equal,  if  not  a  greater  num 
ber  of  persons  than  our  large  breweries. 

"It  is  no  uncommon  occurrence  with  speculators 
engaged  in  this  sort  of  illicit  traffic,  to  purchase  and 
ship  imitation  wines,  fabricated  in  the  places  named, 
to  Madeira,  where  by  collusion  with  persons  in  the 
custom-house  department  in  the  island,  the  wines 
are  landed  in  the  entrepot,  and  thence,  after  being 
branded  with  the  usual  marks  of  the  genuine  Madeira 
vintage,  reshipped,  principally,  it  is  believed,  to  the 
United  States.  The  scale  of  gratuity  for  this  sort  of 
work  to  the  officials  interested,  may  be  estimated  by 
the  fact  that,  on  one  occasion,  seventy  pipes  were 
thus  surreptitiously  passed  at  a  charge  of  $1000.  It 
is  a  circumstance  no  less  singular,  that  the  same 
manufacture  is  said  to  be  commonly  carried  on  with 
counterfeit  wine  made  up  in  Celte  and  Marseilles, 
and  thence  dispatched  to  Oporto,  where  the  same 
process  of  landing,  branding  and  reshipment  as 
genuine  Port,  is  gone  through  ;  the  destination  of 
this  spurious  article  being  most  generally  to  the 


176  FACTS. 

United  States.  Such  is  the  extent  of  this  nefarious 
commerce,  that  one  individual  alone  has  been  pointed 
out  in  the  French  ports,  who  has  been  in  the  habit 
of  dispatching,  four  times  in  the  year,  twenty-five 
thousand  bottles  of  champagne  each  shipment,  of 
wines  not  the  produce  of  the  Champagne  districts, 
but  fabricated  in  these  wine  factories."  A  scientific 
gentleman  purchased  from  the  importer  a  bottle  of 
champagne  in  New-York,  and  had  the  same  analyzed. 
It  was  found  to  contain  a  quarter  of  an  ounce  of 
sugar  of  lead. 

Correspondent  to  this,  was  that  letter  from  Madeira 
by  an  officer  of  our  navy,  stating  that  but  thirty 
thousand  barrels  of  wine  was  produced  on  the  island, 
and  fifty  thousand  claimed  to  be  from  thence,  drank 
in  America  alone. 

In  confirmation  of  this  statement,  a  friend  of  mine, 
an.d  a  citizen  of  ours,  James  C.  Duane,  Esq., 
informed  me  that  having  been  induced  to  purchase 
a  cask  of  port  wine,  by  the  fact  that  it  had  just  been 
received  direct  from  Oporto,  by  a  house  in  New- 
York,  in  the  honor  and  integrity  of  which  entire  con 
fidence  could  be  placed,  he  drew  off  and  bottled  and 
secured  with  his  own  hands,  its  precious  contents, 
to  be  reserved  for  the  especial  use  of  friends  ;  and 
that  having  done  so,  and  having  thereafter  occasion 
to  cause  that  cask  to  be  sawed  in  two,  he  found  to 
his  astonishment  that  its  lees  consisted  of  a  large 
quantity  of  the  shavings  of  logwood,  a  residuum  of 
alum  and  other  ingredients,  the  name  and  nature  of 
which  were  to  him  unknown. 


INGEEDIENTS.  177 

What  secrets  other  wine  casks  would  reveal,  were 
their  contents  examined,  is  not  difficult  to  conjecture, 
or  if  knowledge  be  preferred  to  conjecture,  even  that 
would  not  be  of  difficult  attainment.* 


*  Would  you  wish  to  be  informed  what  the  ingredients  are  that 
enter  into  the  composition  of  those  fabrications  called  wines,  so 
obligingly  prepared  in  caverns  or  garrets  at  home,  or  no  less  oblig 
ingly  supplied  from  the  brew-houses  of  the  grape  bearing  countries 
abroad  ?  That  wish  may  be  gratified  by  consulting  M.  P.  Orfila  on 
poisons,  (first  American  ed.;  1819),  from  which  author  the  following 
extracts  have  been  made : 

Page  198 :  "  Wines  adulterated  by  various  substances.  The  object 
is  to  mask  defects,  or  give  color,  odor,  or  strength." — Jour.  T.  V.} 
p.  43,  year  1838. 

Page  199 :  "  Wines  adulterated  by  lead.  Sugar  of  lead,  ceruse, 
and  still  more  frequently,  litharge,  are  mixed  with  acid  or  sharp 
tasted  wines,  in  order  to  render  them  less  so,  and  these  substances 
do  in  fact  give  them  a  sweet  taste." 

Page  74,  5 :  Speaking  of  sugar  of  lead  he  says  :  "  It  gives  a  sweet, 
astringent,  metallic  taste,  constriction  of  the  throat,  pain  in  the  sto 
mach,  desire  to  vomit,  or  vomiting  (47),  foetid  eructations,  hiccough, 
difficulty  of  respiration,  thirst,  cramps,  coldness  of  limbs,  convul 
sions,  change  of  features,  delirium,  &c." 

Page  202:  "  White  wines  adulterated  with  lead." 

Page  208 :  "  Red  wines  adulterated  with  lead.  Wines  adulterated 

with  alum.  The  object  of  this  adulteration  is and  to  give 

them  an  astringent  taste  ;  effects  —  digestion  painful,  vomiting  from 
time  to  time,  obstructions  of  bowels,  and  piles,  are  the  results  of 
drinking  wine  thus  adulterated." 

Page  306:  "  Wines  adulterated  with  chalk.  Design — to  saturate 
acetic  or  tartaric  acid,  and  destroy  the  sharpness." 

Page  307  :  "Wines  adulterated  by  brandy.  It  occurs  sometimes 
that  brandy  is  added  to  weak  wines ;  in  other  circumstances,  wine 
with  a  mixture  of  cider  or  other  spiritous  liquor,  and  brandy,  log 
wood,  sandal  wood,  or  some  other  coloring  matter  being  added." 


178  INGREDIENTS. 

Indeed  chemistry  has  supplied  such  facilities,  and 
avarice  such  motives  for  the  adulteration  of  intoxica 
ting  liquors  of  every  kind,  that  though  fermented 


Page  208:  "Means  employed  to  give  color  to  wine  —  old  wines 
being  in  general,  of  a  deeper  color  than  new  wines.  This  is  done  by 
exposing  to  the  air,  by  sugar,  by  the  acid  of  sulphurous  acid  gas ; 
and  by  vaccinum,  myrtillus,  logwood  chips  and  other  substances 
which  also  render  them  astringent." 

Page  210 :  "  Wines  adulterated  by  sweet  or  astringent  substances, 
sugar,  raisins,  extract  of  oak  or  willow  bark." 

Page  34,  35 :  "  Sulphuric  and  nitric  acid,  and  the  alkalies,  &c., 
inflame  the  parts  with  which  they  are  placed  in  contact,  but  in 
different  degrees.  There  are  some  which  produce  so  great  an 
inflammation  that  they  may  be  regarded  as  caustics  almost  as  power 
ful  as  the  actual  cautery.  They  are  called  corrosive  or  escharotics  ; 
they  evidently  cause  a  death  in  the  same  manner  as  burns.  Such 
are  the  concentrated  acids,  alkalies,  &c.  There  are  others  whose 
caustic  effects  are  less  intense,  but  which  produce  death  in  a  more 
rapid  manner,  because  they  are  absorbed,  mixed  with  the  blood, 
carried  into  the  circulation,  destroy  the  vital  properties  of  the  heart, 
lungs,  brain,  and  nervous  system." 

Page  44 :  "  The  effect  of  the  alkalies  is  nearly  similar  to  that  of 
the  acids,  &c." 

Page  75 :  "  If  in  place  of  taking  a  large  dose  of  lead,  water  or 
wine,  containing  but  a  small  portion,  is  taken,  no  immediate  incon 
venience  will  be  felt;  but  if  the  practice  be  long  continued,  a  disease 
similar  to  that  of  the  cholic  of  painters  will  arise,  which,  in  certain 
cases,  is  true  palsy." 

Page  100 :  "  Nux  vomica,  cocculus  indicus,  introduced  into  the 
stomach,  or  applied  to  wounds,  are  repeatedly  absorbed,  and  affect 
the  brain  or  spinal  marrow  near  the  neck.  They  occasion  a  general 
rigidity  and  convulsions.  The  head  is  thrown  back,  the  chest  is 
dilated  with  difficulty,  respiration  is  greatly  impeded,  and  death  is 
the  consequence,  and  that  in  a  very  few  moments,  if  the  dose  has 
been  great.  The  effects  on  some  are  not  continual,  but  give  rise  to 
fits  from  time  to  time,  in  the  intervals  of  which  the  individual  appears 
little  affected  Opium  and  poppy  heads  are  more  or  less  poisonous." 


ONLY  BAD  WINE  CONDEMNED.        179 

liquors  were  harmless,  safety  can  only  be  found  in 

TOTAL  ABSTINENCE. 


From  Accum  on  Culinary  Poisons,  the  following  extracts  are  made : 

Page  74:  "  It  is  sufficiently  evident  that  few  of  these  commodities, 
which  are  the  objects  of  commerce,  are  adulterated  to  a  greater 
extent  than  wine.  Alum,  Brazil  wood,  gypsum,  oak  saw  dust  and 
husks  of  filberts,  are  used  to  brighten,  color,  clear  and  make  astringent, 
wines.  A  mixture  of  spoiled  foreign  and  home  made  wines  is  con 
verted  into  the  wretched  compound  frequently  sold  under  the  name 
of  genuine  old  Port." 

Page  75  :  "  Various  expedients  are  resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of 
communicating  particular  flavors  to  insipid  wines.  Bitter  almonds, 
cherry,  laurel  water,  &c.,  are  used." 

Page  76:  "The  sophistication  of  wines  is  carried  on  to  an  enor 
mous  extent.  Many  thousands  of  pipes  of  spoiled  cider  are  annually 
brought  hither  from  the  country  for  the  purpose  of  being  converted 
into  factitious  wine." 

Page  78,  80  :  "  Artisans  are  regularly  employed  in  staining  casks 
and  crusting  casks  and  bottles,  and  making  an  astringent  extract  for 
old  port.  There  are  many  other  sophistications  which  are  deceptive, 
and  which  are  connected  with  another  branch  of  an  absolutely  crimi 
nal  nature." 

Page  81 :  "  Several  well  authenticated  facts  prove  these  adultera 
tions  of  wine  with  substances  deleterious  to  health  to  be  practiced 
oftener  than  is  perhaps  expected." 

Page  82:  "The  most  dangerous  adulteration  of  wine  is  by  some 
preparations  of  lead.  Lead  is  certainly  employed  for  this  purpose. 
Merchants  persuade  themselves  that  the  minute  quantity  employed 
for  that  purpose  is  perfectly  harmless.  But  chemical  analysis  proves 
the  contrary,  and  it  must  be  pronounced  highly  deleterious.  Lead, 
in  whatever  state  it  is  taken  into  the  stomach,  occasions  terrible 
diseases.  And  wine  adulterated  with  the  minutest  quantity  of  it 
becomes  a  slow  poison. 

"  The  merchant  or  dealer  who  practices  this  dangerous  sophistica 
tion,  adds  the  crime  of  murder  to  that  of  fraud ;  and  deliberately 
scatters  the  seeds  of  disease  and  death  among  those  who  contribute 
to  his  emolument." 


ISO  INFLUENCE   OF  A  NAME. 

And  yet  when  we  mention  total  abstinence  from 
even  the  adulterated  liquors  here  in  use,  we  are  met 
as  before,  and  sometimes  even,  alas !  that  it  should 
be  so,  by  good  men  too,  with  the  authority  of  the 
Bible  ;  as  if  the  Bible  had  ever  had  anything  to  say 
in  favor  of  this  modem  drunkard's  drink,  in  any  of 
its  forms  in  use,  in  these  ends  of  the  earth. 

Be  it  so,  that  the  Bible  sanctioned  the  fruit  of 
the  vine  in  Palestine,  does  it  follow  from  this  that 
it  sanctions  also  the  juice  of  the  grapes  of  Sodom 
and  the  apples  of  Gomorrah  ?  And  yet  it  as  truly 
sanctions  these  as  it  sanctions  "that  wine  of  drag 
ons  and  poison  of  asps,"  in  use  as  a  beverage  in 
America. 

Can  it  be  needful  to  repeat,  in  the  conclusion  of 
this  article,  what  we  said  at  its  commencement,  that 
it  is  only  against  bad  wine,  wine  that  Solomon  repro 
bated,  wine  that  causes  woe  and  sorrow  and  wounds 
without  cause,  that  we  array  ourselves  ? 

The  wine  that  David  commended  was  good  wine  ; 
the  wine  that  Jesus  Christ  miraculously  supplied  was 
good  wine — wine  worthy  of  its  Author,  of  the 
guests  and  the  occasion ;  and  when  He  shall  again 
honor  the  bridal  chamber  by  His  presence  and  supply 


These  words  of  Accum  are  in  perfect  keeping  with  the  recent 
confession  of  a  wine  dealer,  who  on  his  death-bed,  acknowledged  in 
the  bitterness  of  penitential  sorrow,  "  that  he  had  often  seen  his 
customers  wasting  away  around  him,  poisoned  by  that  he  had  meted 
out  to  them,  and  that  same  wine  which  was  the  cause  of  their  decline, 
was  often  prescribed  by  their  physicians  as  a  means  for  their 
recovery." 


INFLUENCE    OF    A    NAME.  181 

the  guests  by  His  agency,  or  when  another  in  His 
name  and  by  His  authority  shall  do  this,  and  we 
refuse  that  cup  of  blessings,  it  will  be  time  enough 
to  confront  us  with  Christ's  example,  and  accuse  us 
of  impugning  His  authority. 

What  influence  there  is  in  a  name  !  Because  Christ 
changed  water  into  wine  in  Cana  of  Galilee,  Chris 
tians  may  not  abjure  the  use,  not  of  the  fruit  of  the 
vineyards  of  Palestine,  not  of  the  fruit  of  the  vine 
at  all,  but  the  product  of  the  still  and  the  brewhouse 
in  America !  as  if  an  inference,  assented  to  by  the 
intellect  and  binding  the  conscience,  could  be  drawn 
from  the  one  to  the  other. 

Be  it  then  distinctly  understood,  that  it  is  not  the 
mere  fruit  of  the  vine,  the  pure  wine  of  Palestine, 
nay,  nor  pure  wine  at  all,  about  the  virtues  of 
which  we  hear  so  much,  that  this  dispute  is  con 
cerned  with ;  but  it  is  about  a  brandied  or  brewed 
article,  falsely  called  wine,  in  the  sense  the  Bible 
speaks  of  wine  with  approbation,  or  even  speaks  of 
it  at  all,  a  factititious  or  spurious  article,  always 
supplied  in  fraud,  and  usually  drank  in  ignorance ; 
an  article  which  is  corrupting  the  morals  of  youth, 
paralyzing  the  energies  of  manhood,  polluting  even 
female  virtue,  and  bringing  the  grey  hairs  of  age 
down  with  dishonor  to  the  grave.  It  is,  I  repeat  it, 
so  far  as  respects  wine,  such  an  article,  with  which 
this  dispute  is  concerned.  This  is  the  true  issue. 

If  there  be  a  fruit  of  the  vine  in  Palestine,  or 
elsewhere,  healthful,  or  even  harmless,  let  the 
dwellers  in  those  favored  lands  enjoy  the  full  benefit 

NOTT.  16 


1  S2  WHY   THIS   ULTRAISM  ? 

thereof;  but  in  the  name  of  humanity  and  religion, 
I  protest  against  their  palming  on  us,  under  the 
guise  of  such  an  article,  the  vile  compounds  now 
in  market.  And  in  the  same  name,  I  protest  against 
our  consenting  any  longer  to  receive  those  com 
pounds. 

But,  after  all,  it  is  asked,  why  this  ultraism  ?  No 
one  thinks  of  abstaining,  on  account  of  gluttony, 
from  eating  ;  why  then  from  drinking,  on  account 
of  drunkenness  ?  Especially  why,  since  gluttony  is 
quite  as  prevalent  and  injurious  as  drunkenness?  Is 
it  so,  indeed  ?  Where,  then,  I  ask,  is  the  evidence 
of  the  alarming  fact  ?  Where  are  the  families  that 
gluttony  has  beggared,  the  individuals  it  has  brutal 
ized? 

Where  is  that  utter  degradation,  in  form,  and 
feeling,  and  intellect,  produced  by  gluttony,  which 
is  every  day  exhibited  in  those  ragged  wretches 
with  which  intoxication  strews  the  very  gutters  of 
the  streets  along  which  we  pass?  Where  are  the 
poor-houses,  and  prison-houses  and  the  lunatic  asy 
lums,  that  gluttony  has  peopled  with  its  miserable 
victims  ? 

That  evils  are  occasionally  produced  by  gluttony, 
I  doubt  not ;  but  that  those  evils  are  either  so  fre 
quent,  or  so  frightful  as  the  evils  of  drunkenness  I 
have  yet  to  learn ;  and  the  world  has  yet  to  learn 
this ;  or  even,  if  it  were  so,  be  it  remembered,  these 
are  evils  allied  to  drinking,  not  to  abstinence.  Show 
me  a  glutton,  and  you  will  show  me  a  drinker,  if 
not  a  drunkard.  And  however  numerous  such  pitia- 


EATING  —  DRINKING.  183 

ble  objects  may  be  in  the  ranks  of  moderate  drinkers, 
in  the  ranks  of  "  teetotalers"  there  are  none  of  them. 
And  you  may  go  through  the  length  and  breadth  of 
the  land,  and  marshal  the  whole  army  of  cold  water 
drinkers,  without  finding  one  bloated,  over  eating 
gourmand  among  them  all.  So  that  drinking  is 
chargeable  with  the  double  condemnation  of  both 
gluttony  and  drunkenness. 

But  were  gluttony  as  prevalent,  which  it  is  not, 
as  drunkenness,  where  would  be  the  pertinence  of 
the  argument  attempted  by  the  comparison  ?  Man 
cannot  live  without  eating.  Eating,  then,  be  its 
incidental  evils  what  they  may,  cannot  be  dispensed 
with.  Not  so  with  drinking ;  as  far  as  the  drunk 
ard's  drink  is  concerned,  man  cannot  only  live  with 
out  it,  but  he  can  also  live  longer  and  better  without 
than  with  it ;  all  the  tremendous  evils,  therefore, 
resulting  from  its  use,  are  wanton  and  gratuitous. 

Gluttony  results  from  excess  in  the  use  of  aliments 
of  every  kind.  Not  so  with  drunkenness — it  is  pro 
duced  by  distilled  and  fermented  liquors  only. 

But  were  it  otherwise ;  were  gluttony  confined, 
like  drunkenness,  to  the  use  of  a  single  article,  and 
that  the  vilest  and  least  nutritious  article  existing  ; 
and  an  article  rendered  vile  and  innutritions  by  vol 
untary  debasement,  in  the  manner  of  preparing  it 
from  other  articles,  which,  in  the  state  God  created 
them,  were  both  nutritive  and  healthful ;  were  such 
the  case  with  gluttony,  who  would  not  cry  shame 
to  the  man  who  would  still  persist  in  selecting  that 
article,  to  the  neglect  of  other  and  unobjectionable 


1S4  COUNSEL   OF   WISDOM. 

articles,  for  the  daily  use  of  his  family,  cause  it  to 
be  spread  out  before  the  eye  of  his  children,  and 
recommended  to  the  taste  of  his  guests? 

Be  it  so,  that  drunkenness,  unlike  gluttony,  springs 
only  from  the  use  of  a  single  kind  of  beverage ;  still, 
to  pretend  that  that  beverage  should  be  altogether 
abandoned  on  that  account,  is  said  to  be  not  reason, 
but  fanaticism.  It  is  said  that,  up  to  that  limit 
where  sobriety  ceases,  and  intemperance  begins,  men 
may  indulge  in  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  with 
safety,  and  ought  not,  therefore,  to  be  deprived  of 
the  privilege  of  doing  so. 

Hearer  !  Christian  !  does  wisdom  counsel  thus  ? 
To  me,  it  seems  her  voice  counsels  the  inquirer  after 
safety  to  keep  away  from  even  the  vicinity  of  that 
slippery,  treacherous  cliff,  down  which  the  feet  of 
the  presumptions  sinner  slide  to  ruin. 

Is  it  forgotten  who  it  was  that  taught  his  disciples, 
day  by  day,  to  offer  up  that  petition  :  "  Lead  us  not 
into  temptation?"  And  shall  God  hold  that  man 
guiltless,  who,  having  offered  it,  shall  go  away,  and 
day  by  day  spread  temptation  before  his  children,  his 
family,  his  friends,  and  the  stranger  that  comes  within 
his  influence  ? 

"  Up  to  the  limit  wrhere  sobriety  ceases  and 
intemperance  begins,  men  may  indulge  in  safety." 
Fatal  maxim !  And  the  man  who,  now  acting  on 
it,  dares  to  approach  that  limit,  will,  hereafter,  given 
up  of  God,  transgress  it,  and  become,  what  so  many 
temperate  drinkers  have  become  already,  an  habitual 
drunkard. 


BE  NOT  DECEIVED  BY  NAMES.        185 

But  be  the  dangers  of  indulging  what  they  may, 
in  abstaining  there  are  no  dangers.  I  have  heard  of 
multitudes  ruined  in  health,  and  fortune,  and  fame, 
by  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors ;  never  of  one,  in 
either  of  these  respects,  by  abstaining  from  their  use. 

It  is  safe,  then,  and  therefore  wise,  for  parents,  for 
Christians,  and  especially  for  Christian  ministers,  to 
take  the  side  of  abstinence  in  its  totality ;  and,  stand 
ing  between  the  living  and  the  dead  and  the  dying, 
to  say,  both  by  precept  and  example,  "  touch  not, 
taste  not." 

Be  not  deceived  by  names.  When  you  hear  men 
quote  the  Bible  in  favor  of  a  beverage  that  is  filling 
the  world  with  crime,  disease  and  death,  you  may  be 
assured  that  the  quotation  is  made  in  error  ;  that  the 
article,  here  so  fatal,  is  not  the  article  which  the  Bible 
recommends,  or  that  our  manner  of  using  it  is  not 
the  manner  which  it  sanctions.  God  wills  the  virtue 
and  the  happiness  of  his  creatures,  and  cannot  there 
fore  will  the  use,  I  mean  such  use  of  anything  as 
tends  to  the  subversion  of  both. 

Oil  is  as  distinctly  recommended  in  the  Bible  as 
wine ;  and  yet  who  ever  thought  of  insisting  on  the 
use  of  train  oil,  the  oil  of  ambergris,  or  even  of 
tobacco,  on  that  account  ?  And  since  there  are  more 
kinds  of  wine  than  of  oil,  it  were  at  least  as  reason 
able  to  defend  the  use  of  bad  oil  as  of  bad  wine  else 
where,  because  good  oil  as  well  as  good  wine  were 
once  used  in  Palestine.  The  defence  of  the  use  of 
those  kinds  of  oil ,  known  to  be  oifensive  to  the  taste, 

or  injurious  tc  the  health,  and  especially  to  the  life 
NOTT.  *16 


186       REASONING  OF  THE  APOTHECARY. 

of  man,  would  be  deemed  an  absurdity  not  to  be 
entertained.  Why  then  entertain  a  similar  absurdity 
in  the  defence  of  the  use  of  similar  kinds  of  wine  ? 
Why  should  the  term  wine,  any  more  than  the  term 
oil,  consecrate  the  use  of  the  poisons  designated 
by  it  ? 

What  would  be  thought  of  the  apothecary  who 
should  insist  that  wine  to  which  antimony  had  been 
added  was  Scriptural,  and  ought  to  be  used  as  a  com 
mon  beverage,  because  wine  to  which  no  antimony 
had  been  added  was  allowed  to  be  used  in  the  Holy 
Land ;  especially,  what  would  be  thought  of  the 
apothecary  who  should  insist  on  this  in  the  face  of 
the  qualms,  and  retching,  and  faintness,  and  prostra 
tion  apparent  on  every  side,  in  consequence  of  the 
use  of  such  poisonous  wine  ?  And  yet,  it  is  not  per 
ceived  why  this  reasoning  of  the  apothecary  would 
not  be  as  legitimate  as  that  of  the  moralist  who 
insists  that  wine  to  which  alcohol  has  been  added  is 
Scriptural,  and  ought  to  be  used  as  a  common  beve 
rage  in  America,  because  wine  to  which  no  alcohol 
had  been  added  was  so  used  in  the  Holy  Land ; 
especially  of  the  moralist  who  should  insist  on  this, 
in  the  face  of  the  withered  intellect,  the  paralyzed 
energy,  and  the  ultimate  death  which  brandied  wines 
were  known  to  have  occasioned  ? 

Take  another  and  a  parallel  case.  Milk  and  honey 
were  among  the  promised  blessings  of  the  land  of 
promise,  and  they  are  employed  in  Scripture  as 
emblems  of  the  richest  mercies ;  and  yet  who  does 
not  know  that  honey  is  often  deleterious,  and  that 


MILK    POISONED.  187 

there  are  times  and  places  in  which  to  taste  of  milk 
is  death? 

"At  Logansport,"  I  quote  here  from  a  letter  in 
the  Danbury  Herald,  dated  July  11,  1833:  "At 
Logansport,  on  the  banks  of  the  Wabash,  I  was 
cautioned  by  an  elderly  lady  against  using  either 
milk,  butter  or  beef,  on  my  way  to  Vincennes  ;  as  a 
reason  for  her  caution,  she  informed  me  that  the  milk 
sickness  was  common  in  the  state.  I  had  heard  of 
it  before,  but  knew  little  of  it ;  she  informed  me 
that  very  many  deaths  occurred  annually  by  this 
dreadful  malady.  There  is  a  difference  of  opinion  as 
to  the  cause  that  produces  it,  but  the  general  opinion 
is,  that  it  is  occasioned  by  the  yellow  oxide  of  arsenic, 
in  the  low  ground  and  woodland,  and  particularly 
near  the  Wabash  river;  and  that  some  weed,  yet 
unknown,  imbibes  the  poison,  and  when  eaten  by 
the  cattle,  causes  them  to  quiver,  stagger,  and  die 
within  a  few  hours.  If  cows  eat  it,  the  milk  is 
poisoned,  or  butter  that  is  made  from  the  milk,  and 
it  is  sure  death  to  these  who  eat  of  either,  as  it  is  to 
the  animal  that  eats  the  weed.  Great  care  is  taken 
to  bury  such  cattle  as  die  with  it ;  for  if  dogs  eat 
their  flesh,  they  share  the  same  fate,  and  it  operates 
upon  them  as  violently  as  upon  the  creature  that  was 
affected  with  it.  The  butcher,  uniformly  in  this 
state,  runs  the  victim  of  the  knife  a  mile  to  heat  the 
blood,  and,  if  it  has  eaten  the  weed,  it  will  at  once, 
on  stopping,  quiver  and  shake ;  if  it  does  not,  it  is 
considered  safe  to  butcher ;  and  this  is  the  uniform 


188  ABSURDITY  INVOLVED. 

test,  even  when  the  beef  cattle  show  no  signs  of 
having  ate  the  weed. 

"  Indiana  is  not  alone  in  this  misfortune  ;  there 
have  been  many  cases  in  some  parts  of  Ohio,  and 
south  of  St.  Louis,  and  other  southwestern  states. 
1  have  seen  many  farms,  with  comfortable  buildings 
and  improvements,  entirely  abandoned,  and  their 
owners  fled  to  avoid  this  dreadful  curse." 

Now  what,  I  ask,  would  be  thought  of  the  sanity 
of  a  man  who,  with  his  Bible  in  his  hand,  and  his 
finger  pointing  to  the  text  that  speaks  of  the  milk 
arid  honey  of  the  Holy  Land,  should  undertake  to 
rebuke  that  mother  in  Israel  for  presuming  to 
recommend  to  that  stranger  traveler,  not  the  moder 
ate  use,  but  total  abstinence  from  an  article,  in 
Indiana,  which  God  himself  had  authorized  to  be 
used  in  Palestine  ?  What  would  be  thought  of  the 
sanity  of  the  man  who,  standing  in  the  great  valley 
of  the  west,  amid  the  dying  and  the  dead  —  and  after 
having  surveyed  the  sick  rooms  where  the  victims  of 
milk  were  agonizing,  or  the  fresh  graves  where  their 
corses  had  been  buried,  should  gravely  talk,  not  of 
abstinence,  but  of  moderation  in  the  use  of  this  fatal 
aliment — should  provide  it  for  his  family,  place  it 
on  his  table,  proffer  it  to  his  friends,  and  even  make 
a  show  of  tasting  it  himself,  out  of  reverence  for 
the  Bible,  and  through  the  dread  of  appearing  to 
give  countenance  to  ultraism?  What  would  be 
thought  of  the  sanity  of  such  a  man  ?  And  yet  what 
are  all  the  ills  which  milk  has  occasioned  on  the  other 
side  of  the  mountains,  since  the  foot  of  the  white  man 


APPEAL   TO    OBSERVATION   AND   EXPERIENCE.    189 

first  trod  the  great  valley  of  the  west,  compared  with 
those  which  intoxicating  liquor  occasions  annually, 
in  any  one  of  the  cities  of  the  east  ? 

If  these  cases  are  not  parallel,  their  want  of  paral 
lelism  only  gives  additional  force  to  the  argument 
drawn  from  their  comparison.  For,  the  milk  in  the 
valley  of  the  west,  deadly  as  it  may  be,  is,  notwith 
standing,  truly  the  milk  of  kine  ;  whereas  the  drunk 
ard's  drink  of  the  east  is  not  even  the  fruit  of  the 
vine,  but  the  product  of  the  brew-house ;  or,  if  it 
indeed  ever  partake  of  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  it  is  not 
of  that  fruit  in  its  purity,  but  in  admixture  with 
articles  that  debase  it,  so  that  the  mixture  no  longer 
comes  within  the  limits  of  that  license  granted  to 
the  wine  of  Palestine,  whatever  that  license  may  be ; 
hence  the  whole  question  of  the  merit  or  demerit  of 
the  intoxicating  liquors  here  in  use,  and  of  the  inno 
cence  or  guilt  of  using  them,  is  to  be  decided,  not  by 
appealing  to  the  Bible,  but  to  observation  and  expe 
rience.  To  that  tribunal  we  appeal,  and  are  prepared 
to  abide  the  issue — the  only  rightful  issue ;  and  in 
making  this  appeal,  we  take  no  vantage  ground ;  WG 
claim  no  right  to  bind  the  conscience  of  others,  or 
to  sit  in  judgment  on  our  brother. 

If  patriots  shall  think — I  speak  as  to  wise  men — 
if  patriots  shall  think,  having  examined  the  facts  of 
the  case,  and  with  all  these  evils  before  their  eyes, 
that  it  is  befitting  in  them  to  continue  the  use  of 
brandied,  or  even  brewed  wines  ;  if  they  shall  think, 
on  the  whole,  that  the  happiness  these  liquors  confer 


190  AMERICAN   WINES   PROFANE. 

exceeds  in  amount  the  miseries  they  inflict,  let  them 
drink  on  and  abide  the  consequence. 

If  Christians  think — I  speak  as  to  conscientious 
men — if  Christians  think,  having  examined  the  facts 
of  the  case,  and  with  all  these  evils  before  their  eyes, 
that  the  benefits  resulting  from  this  drink  of  drunkards 
are  so  numerous  or  so  signal  as  to  require  the  influence 
of  their  example  in  the  furtherance  of  its  use,  espe 
cially  on  gala  days  and  at  weddings,  let  them  give  to 
the  good  cause  the  benefit  of  their  influence  ;  but 
let  them  do  this  understandingly,  and  on  account  of 
the  benefits  which  the  church  and  the  world  are 
likely  to  derive  from  continuing  its  use,  and  not 
because  the  Bible  sanctions  it.  If  this  drunkard's 
drink  is  to  be  hereafter  drunk  by  Christians,  let  it  be 
done  by  the  authority  of  reason,  and  in  the  name  of 
Ceres  or  Vesta,  and  not  of  Religion  and  Jesus.  And 
why  not  by  the  authority  of  Religion  and  in  the  name 
of  Jesus  ?  Neither  the  Bible  or  its  Author,  whatever 
may  have  been  said  of  the  mere  fruit  of  the  vine  in 
Palestine,  has  said  any  thing  in  commendation  of  the 
products  of  the  still  and  the  brew-house  in  America. 

These  unbidden,  exciting,  maddening  mixtures  are 
in  every  sense  profane,  and  befit  the  orgies  of  Bacchus 
rather  than  the  festivities  of  Christians.  They  are,  at 
best,  mixed  wines,  mixed  with  brandy,  or  even  worse 
materials,  which  mixture  the  Bible  nowhere  tolerates, 
and  which  cannot,  therefore,  under  its  sanction,  be 
distributed  even  to  bridal  guests.  If  hereafter, 
therefore,  any  Christian  shall  claim  the  liberty  of 
countenancing  the  use  of  wine,  falsely  so  called,  on 


LET  US  TURN  TO  THE  BOOK  OF  NATURE.   191 

gala  days  and  at  weddings,  let  him  do  so  as  a  man, 
not  as  a  Christian ;  nor  let  him  lay  to  his  soul  the 
flattering  unction,  that  in  doing  so  he  is  borne  out  by 
the  Bible,  and  sheltered  behind  the  example  of  his 
Savior.  If  the  use  of  these  articles  as  a  common 
beverage  can  be  vindicated  at  all,  it  is  because  of 
their  utility,  and  only  because  of  their  utility,  and 
not  because  religion  either  requires  or  sanctions  such 
use  ;  for  no  such  article  as  even  the  brandied  wine  of 
commerce  existed  in  our  Savior's  time ;  for  brandy 
itself  did  not  then  exist.  This  intenser  poison  is  a 
product  of  human  skill,  and  of  later  times. 

Having  disabused  our  minds  of  the  bewildering 
influence  of  that  miserable  sophism — that  because 
the  Bible  authorized  the  use  of  good  wine  in  Palestine 
it  had  also  authorized  the  use  of  bad  wine  in  America ; 
that  because  it  spoke  in  terms  of  commendation  of 
vineyards  and  wine-presses  there,  it  had,  by  implica 
tion,  spoken  in  like  terms  of  brew-houses  and  dis 
tilleries  here  ;  having  disabused  our  minds  of  the 
bewildering  influence  of  this  sophism,  having  learned 
what  God  has  not  said  in  the  book  of  Revelation, 
concerning  the  intoxicating  liquors  here  in  use,  we 
are  prepared  to  turn  and  open  the  Book  of  Nature, 
and  learn  what  he  has  said,  and  is  still  repeating 
there 


LECTURE  No.  VIII. 


MORAL   AND   NATURAL   LAWS   AS  APPLIED  TO 
STRONG  DRINK. 


Books  of  Revelation  and  Nature —  Misery  springs  from  violations  of 
law  —  Nature  interrogated  —  Her  answer  returned  —  In  crime 
disease  and  death  —  Spontaneous  combustion  —  Distinction  between 
stimulants  and  aliments  —  Example  of  moderate  drinkers  more 
injurious  than  of  drunkards  —  Iniquities  of  fathers  visited  on 
children — Expostulation  with  moderate  drinkers. 

THE  books  of  Revelation  and  of  Nature  were  both 
written  by  the  same  unerring  wisdom,  and  written 
for  our  instruction  and  reproof,  on  whom  the  ends  of 
the  world  are  come. 

The  moral  laws  of  God's  kingdom  are  embodied 
in  the  former,  the  physical  in  the  latter.  The 
knowledge  of  the  former  is  acquired  by  reading  and 
meditation ;  of  the  latter,  by  observation  and  experi 
ment.  As  the  character  of  moral  agents  is  made 
manifest  by  the  works  they  perform,  so  the  nature  of 
material  elements  is  made  manifest  by  the  effects 
which  they  produce. 

The  laws  of  God,  whether  physical  or  moral,  tend 
to  promote  the  virtue  and  secure  the  happiness  of 
all  who  are  subject  to  those  laws ;  and  were  that 


TEUTHS  IN  REVELATION  AND  IN.  NATURE.   193 

subjection  entire  and  universal,  happiness  would  also 
be  entire  and  universal. 

Misery  never  springs  from  obeying,  always  from 
disobeying  the  laws  of  the  Creator.  When  we  obey, 
we  are  in  harmony — when  we  disobey,  at  variance 
with  his  government.  Wherever  misery  exists,  it 
always  exists,  therefore,  in  evidence  that  God's  will 
has  been  disregarded,  and  some  law  of  his  physical 
or  moral  kingdom  violated. 

On  carefully  examining  those  varied  productions 
of  nature  with  which  we  are  surrounded,  and  which, 
like  the  forbidden  fruit  of  Eden,  may  appear  pleasant 
to  the  eyes,  good  for  food,  and  to  be  desired  to  make 
one  wise,  it  will  be  perceived  that  some  were  designed 
of  God  for  sickness,  some  for  health,  some  for 
habitual  use,  some  for  occasional  use,  and  some  to  be 
wholly  avoided.  What  his  design  was  with  respect 
to  each  several  production,  is  revealed  to  the  inquirer 
after  truth,  by  the  effects  which  they  severally 
produce. 

That  the  use  of  every  good  creature  of  God,  that  is, 
such  use  as  will,  on  the  whole,  conduce  to  happiness 
and  virtue,  is  conformable  to  his  will  —  and  that  such 
use  of  any  of  them  as  is  subversive  of  either  happi 
ness  or  virtue,  is  contrary  to  his  will,  are  truths 
inscribed  alike  on  the  pages  of  the  book  of  Revela 
tion  and  of  Nature. 

Let  us  then,  keeping  in  mind  this  obvious  rule  of 
interpreting  the  manifestations  of  Providence,  consult 
this  latter  oracle,  as  to  the  will  of  God  and  the  duty 
of  man,  in  relation  to  intoxicating  liquors.  Yes,  let 

NOTT.  17 


194   WHY  THEIR  USE  AND  ABUSE  SO  IDENTIFIED? 

us  enter  and  interrogate  Nature  in  her  own  sanctuary, 
and  let  us  attend  to  the  response  returned.  Keturned 
from  whence  ?  From  the  bar-room — the  banquet — 
the  harvest-field — the  deck  of  the  merchantman  and 
of  the  man-of-war — from  the  poor-house — the  prison- 
house — the  mad-house  and  the  graveyard;  in  one 
word,  from  every  place  on  every  part  of  the  footstool 
of  God  where  the  inebriating  cup  is  raised  to  human 
lips,  or  where  the  victims  of  its  contained  poison  are 
assembled ;  from  a  thousand  places,  and  in  a  thou 
sand  forms  is  this  response  returned.  It  is  returned 
in  the  sigh  of  the  widow — the  supplication  of  the 
orphan — the  wail  of  the  mourner — the  howl  of  the 
maniac,  and  the  death-groan  of  the  expiring. 

But  do  not  these  evils  spring  from  the  abuse,  not 
the  use  of  the  articles  in  question  ?  Doubtless  from 
the  abuse  of  them,  for  to  use  them  in  a  manner  in 
which  they  were  not  intended  to  be  used,  is  to  abuse 
them. 

If  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage  in 
health,  be  such  use  of  them  as  God  ordained,  and  as 
God  approves,  how  comes  it  that  their  use  and  their 
abuse  are  so  identified,  that  the  one  seems  to  follow 
from  the  other  consequentially,  and  as  if  by  some 
necessity  of  nature  ?  It  is  not  thus  with  rest,  or 
sleep,  or  food,  or  any  other  of  those  bland  restoratives 
which  nature  furnishes,  and  our  exhausted  strength 
requires.  These  all,  though  used  habitually,  and 
though  their  use  be  repeated  from  night  to  day,  and 
from  day  to  night,  still  operate  benignly  on  the 


OUR  FELLOW    CREATURES   DYING   AROUND.      195 

system,  and  lose  nothing  of  their  revivifying  and 
invigorating  efficacy. 

Not  so  with  intoxicating  liquors.  Here  by  the 
very  ordination  of  God,  habitual  use  defeats  itself, 
for  it  impairs  the  sensibility  on  which  it  operates. 
Hence  the  quantity  must  be  increased  as  the  sensi 
bility  is  diminished,  in  order  to  keep  up  that  plea 
surable  excitement  at  first  produced ;  and  hence  by 
merely  keeping  up  that  excitement  during  a  sufficient 
length  of  time,  the  constitution  becomes  impaired  and 
the  process  of  inebriation  commenced. 

But  why  debate  this  question,  surrounded  as  we  are 
by  such  numbers  of  wretched  beings,  whose  enfeebled 
intellects  or  shattered  constitutions  evince  that  either 
alcohol  is  poison,  or  some  other  drug  that  is  so,  is 
combined  with  it  in  those  fatal  preparations  dispensed 
alike  from  the  bar-room  and  the  grocery  to  unsus 
pecting  multitudes,  under  the  imposing  names  of 
Eum,  Gin,  Brandy,  Wine,  Beer  and  even  Cider. 

Here,  at  least,  there  is  no  mistake  and  no  exagge 
ration.  Our  fellow  creatures  are  literally  dying 
around  us,  dying  in  numbers,  dying  in  the  city,  dying 
in  the  country,  dying  of  an  insidious  and  loathsome 
disease,  a  disease  that  regards  neither  rank,  or  age, 
or  sex ;  a  disease  distinctly  marked  and  known  to 
be  induced  by  liquors  purposely  manufactured  and 
distributed  far  and  wide,  as  the  common  beverage  of 
which  the  nation  drinks. 

Do  any  of  you  who  hear  me,  doubt  the  truth  of 
this  ?  Go  then  yourselves  to  the  bar-room  and  the 
grocery,  as  I  have  done ;  go  see  with  your  own  eyes 


196  EVIDENCE    OF   GOD'S   DISPLEASURE. 

the  haggard  countenance,  the  emaciated  forms,  the 
trembling  nerves  and  the  demented  looks  of  those 
wretched  beings,  once  human  beings,  who  appear 
like  spectres  from  another  world,  within  those  dens 
of  disease  and  death.  G-o,  hear  with  your  own  ears 
their  lascivious  and  silly  jests,  their  idiotic  laugh, 
their  sepulchral  moan,  and  that  unearthly  curse 
stammered  forth  from  their  quivering  and  blistered 
lips.  Does  any  one  still  doubt?  let  him  then  interro 
gate  the  poor-house,  and  the  jail,  and  the  prison-house, 
and  let  them  answer  whence  their  wretched  inmates 
are  supplied  !  Let  him  ask  the  sepulchre,  and  let  it 
say  what  sends  such  numbers,  prematurely,  and 
uncalled  for,  to  its  dread  abode ! 

O  !  if  the  dead  could  speak,  the  response  returned 
from  thence  would  move  alike  the  surface  of  the 
earth  and  the  bosom  of  the  sea ;  for  there  is  scarcely 
a  spot  of  either  that  has  not  witnessed  the  drunkard's 
degradation,  and  become  itself  the  covering  of  a 
drunkard's  grave. 

NOWT,  this  whole  downward  process  is  an  evidence  of 
God's  displeasure  on  account  of  abused  mercies  ;  a  dis 
pleasure  written  on  many  a  page  of  Providence  in  fright 
ful  characters,  sometimes  even  in  characters  of  fire. 

The  end  or  Nadab  and  Abihu,  whom  fire  from  the 
Lord  consumed,  wras  scarcely  more  signal  or  more 
terrible  than  the  end  of  those  miserable  beings  who 
are,  with  increasing  frequency,  consumed  by  the  slow 
and  quenchless  fires  which  the  use  of  intoxicating 
liquors  hath  gradually  kindled  in  the  living  fibres  of 
their  own  bodies. 


SPONTANEOUS    COMBUSTION   OF   DRUNKARDS.    197 

When,  a  few  years  since,  a  case  of  spontaneous 
combustion,  occurring  in  the  person  of  an  habitual 
drunkard,  was  referred  to  in  a  temperance  address  by 
a  distinguished  layman,  it  was  generally  regretted. 
Few  of  the  friends  of  temperance  were  prepared  to 
endorse  what  then  seemed  to  them  so  improbable  a 
statement,  while  the  manufacturers  and  vendors,  and 
drinkers  of  this  fiery  element  took  occasion  to  pro 
claim  more  loudly  than  ever  the  folly  and  fanaticism 
of  men  who  could  be  so  weak  themselves  as  to 
believe,  and  so  impertinent  as  to  attempt  to  impose 
on  others  the  belief  of  such  ridiculous  occurrences. 

But  these  cases  of  the  death  of  drunkards  by  inter 
nal  fires,  kindled  often  spontaneously,  as  has  been 
supposed,  have  become  so  numerous  and  so  incontro 
vertible,  that  I  presume  no  person  of  information  will 
now  be  found  who  will  venture  to  call  the  reality  of 
their  existence  in  question. 

Says  Professor  Silliman,  after  having  examined 
this  subject :  "  In  all  such  cases  (of  consuming  alive 
in  consequence  of  drunkenness),  the  entire  body 
having  become  saturated  with  alcohol,  absorbed  into 
all  its  tissues,  becomes  highly  inflammable,  as  is  indi 
cated  by  the  vapor  which  reeks  from  the  lungs  in  the 
breath  of  the  drunkard  ;  this  vapor,  doubtless  highly 
alcoholic,  may  take  fire,  and  the  body  gradually  con 
sume."* 


*  It  has  been  suggested  by  a  learned  friend  ( Rev.  J.  N.  Campbell ), 

that  recent  experiments  made  in  France  had  failed  to  confirm  the 

opinion  of  Professor  Silliman,  and  that  it  was  supposed  that  the  real 

cause  was  the  presence  of  phosphorus.    It  seemed  due  to  truth  to 

NOTT.  *17 


198  CASE    CITED. 

For  the  information  of  those  who  may  not  hereto 
fore  have  had  their  attention  called  to  this  visitation 
of  God  on  drunkards,  and  of  all  the  dwellers  on  the 
earth,  only  on  drunkards,  it  may,  perhaps,  not  be 
amiss  to  give  the  melancholy  details  of  a  single  case  ; 
which  details  will  be  given  in  the  words  of  the  physi 
cian  (Dr.  Peter  Schofield,  of  Upper  Canada),  who 
reported  the  same. 

The  case  in  question  was,  says  he :  "  that  of  a 
young  man  about  twenty-five  years  of  age.  He  had 
been  an  habitual  drinker  for  many  years.  I  saw  him 
about  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  on  which  it  hap 
pened  ;  he  was  then,  as  usual,  not  drunk,  but  full  of 
liquor ;  about  eleven  o'clock  the  same  evening,  I 
was  called  to  see  him.  I  found  him  literally  roasted 
from  the  crown  of  his  head  to  the  soles  of  his  feet. 
He  was  found  in  a  blacksmith's  shop,  just  across  from 
where  he  had  been.  The  owner,  all  of  a  sudden, 
discovered  an  extensive  light  in  his  shop,  as  though 
the  whole  building  was  in  one  general  flame.  He 
ran  with  the  greatest  precipitancy,  and  on  throwing 
open  the  door,  discovered  a  man  standing  erect  in 
the  midst  of  a  widely  extended  silver-colored  flame, 
bearing,  as  he  described  it,  exactly  the  appearance 
of  the  wick  of  a  burning  candle,  in  the  midst  of  its 


mention  this;  although,  should  this  supposition  be  confirmed,  it 
will  not  materially  affect  the  argument.  For  whether  in  these  cases 
alcohol  be  the  actual  combustible,  or  merely  the  exciting  cause  of 
the  combustion,  the  fact  still  remains,  that  of  all  the  dwellers  on  the 
earth,  inebriates  are  the  most  exposed  to  this  frightful  visitation  of 
Providence. 


CASE    CITED.  199 

own  flame.  He  seized  him  (the  drunkard)  by  the 
shoulder  and  jerked  him  to  the  door,  upon  which  the 
flame  was  instantly  extinguished.  There  was  no  fire 
in  the  shop,  neither  was  there  any  possibility  of  fire 
having  been  communicated  to  him  from  any  external 
source.  It  was  purely  a  case  of  spontaneous  igni 
tion.  A  general  sloughing  soon  came  on,  and  his 
flesh  was  consumed  or  removed  in  the  dressing,  leav 
ing  the  bones  and  a  few  of  the  larger  blood  vessels  ; 
the  blood  nevertheless  rallied  round  the  heart,  and 
maintained  the  vital  spark  until  the  thirteenth  day, 
when  he  died,  not  only  the  most  loathsome,  ill-featured 
and  dreadful  picture  that  was  ever  presented  to 
human  view,  but  his  shrieks,  his  cries  and  his  lamen 
tations  also,  were  enough  to  rend  a  heart  of  adamant. 
He  complained  of  no  pain  of  body  ;  his  flesh  was 
gone.  He  said  he  was  suffering  the  torments  of  hell ; 
that  he  was  just  upon  the  threshold,  and  should  soon 
enter  its  dismal  caverns,  and  in  this  frame  of  mind  he 
gave  up  the  ghost.  0  !  the  death  of  a  drunkard ! 
Well  may  it  be  said  to  beggar  all  description.  I 
have  seen  other  drunkards  die,  but  never  in  a  manner 
so  awful  and  affecting." 


200 


SCHEDULE    OF   NINETEEN   CASES. 


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WHAT   DO   THESE   INDICATIONS   MEAN?          201 

Now,  I  ask,  what  mean  these  indications  of  Provi 
dence  ?  or  can  any  sane  man  doubt  what  they  mean  ? 
Is  there  anything  obscure  or  equivocal  in  them  ? 
Are  the  loss  of  reason,  conscience,  self-respect,  the 
loss  of  health,  the  loss  of  life  —  the  loss  of  life  by 
delirium  tremens,  and  especially  by  the  slow  fires  of 
a  self-inflicted  vengeance  —  Are  these  the  bland  and 
balmly  rewards  of  obedience  ?  or  are  they  judgments, 
the  fruits  of  sin  ;  judgments  as  intelligible  as  awful? 
Doubtless  they  are  judgments,  all,  all,  judgments  — 
death  by  drunkenness,  by  delirium  tremens,  and  espe 
cially  death  by  spontaneous  combustion,  requires  no 
comment. 

Those  living  human  volcanos,  exhibited  usually, 
if  not  always,  in  the  persons  of  inebriates,  furnish  a 
spectacle  unutterably  appalling ;  in  the  view  of 
which,  as  well  as  in  the  view  of  those  other  indices 
of  wrath,  it  would  seem  as  if  habitual  inebriety  was 
a  violation  of  the  laws  of  life,  visited  in  the  providence 
of  God,  by  signal  tokens  of  his  displeasure. 

How  else  are  these  signs  and  signs  like  these  to  be 
interpreted  ?  or  why  this  distribution  of  the  bounties 
of  providence  into  aliments  and  stimulants  ?  why  the 
marked  and  mighty  difference  in  the  effects  which 
they  produce  by  the  ordination  of  God  upon  the  con 
stitution  of  man,  if  it  be  not  intended  to  secure  on 
his  part  a  corresponding  difference  in  the  manner  of 
their  use  ? 

Does,  then,  the  habitual  use  of  stimulants  uniformly 
impair,  and  that  of  aliments  as  uniformly  restore  the 
sensibility  on  which  they  operate — and  is  this  an 


EVEN   MODERATE    USE    FORBIDDEN. 

ascertained,  settled  law  of  nature  ?  then  is  it  a  law 
that  cannot  with  impunity  be  transgressed,  and  they 
who  do  transgress  it,  array  themselves  against  the 
established  order  of  God's  eternal  providence,  and 
they  do  this  at  their  peril,  no  matter  though  done  in 
ignorance  —  done,  even  on  principle,  done  without 
the  previous  intention  of  offending  God,  or  the  know 
ledge  thereafter  of  having  offended  Him — no  matter 
though  done  by  God's  own  children,  still,  true  to  his 
own  unchanging  nature  of  the  government  He 
ordained,  He  maintains  inviolate  his  laws,  even 
though  that  maintenance  should  embitter  the  joys 
and  shorten  the  days  of  those  who  both  love  and  fear 
his  name. 

Hence,  on  even  the  moderate  use  of  intoxicating 
liquors,  the  frown  of  the  Almighty  is  seen  to  rest ;  I 
say  on  the  moderate  use,  for  no  one  ever  became  at 
once  a  drunkard — the  process  is  progressive  ;  each 
successive  victim  is  led  down  to  ruin,  by  slow  and 
almost  imperceptible  degrees  ;  gradually  his  reason  is 
impaired,  his  moral  sense  is  impaired,  his  constitution 
is  impaired  ;  at  length,  brutalized  in  feeling,  in  char 
acter,  in  appearance,  he  is  disowned  by  the  human 
family,  and  stands  forth  apart,  an  outcast,  a  loathing 
and  a  by- word,  till  finally  his  abused  constitution 
gives  way,  and  the  death  scene  prematurely  follows ; 
which  death  scene,  together  with  the  whole  train  of 
antecedent  evils,  are  but  the  pre-ordained  penalties 
of  God's  violated  law  ;  a  law  distinctly  announced  to 
transgressors,  in  eveiy  infliction  of  its  penalty,  that 


RETRIBUTION.  203 

meets  his  eye,  through  the  whole  line  of  his  forbidden 
and  disastrous  way. 

If  these  things  are  so,  then  the  manner  of  life  per 
sisted  in  by  the  wine  drinker,  beer  drinker,  and  even 
cider  drinker,  as  well  as  the  rum  and  brandy  and 
whiskey  drinker,  is  at  variance  with  the  established 
order  of  nature,  and  the  will  of  God  as  therein 
revealed.  You,  therefore,  who  persist  in  such  a 
manner  of  life,  cannot  expect  to  attain  that  age  to 
which  you  might  otherwise  attain,  or  to  enjoy,  even 
while  life  lasts,  that  blessedness  which  you  might 
otherwise  enjoy,  or  that  your  children,  or  your  chil 
dren's  children  will  attain  the  one  or  enjoy  the  other. 

Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  law  of  God  will  find  the 
transgressor  out.  Yes,  drinker,  moderate  drinker, 
know  that  ere  long  you  will  pay  in  your  own  person, 
or  in  the  person  of  a  son  or  daughter,  or  brother  or 
sister,  or  other  kinsman  or  friend,  the  mighty  forfeit 
you  have  dared  to  stake  on  the  issue  of  transgressing, 
with  impunity,  the  established  order  of  God's 
unchanging  providence.  Nor  are  the  evils  which 
you  are  about  to  bring  upon  yourselves,  or  on  your 
family,  the  only  evils.  Your  position  is  one  which 
more  than  any  other  obstructs  the  onward  movement 
of  the  temperance  cause,  and  may  be  compared  to 
that  of  those  men  of  old,  who,  planting  themselves 
before  the  gate  of  heaven,  neither  entered  in  them 
selves,  nor  suffered  those  who  were  entering,  to  go  in. 

Talk  not  of  the  innocence  of  such  a  course  —  I 
address  myself  to  those  on  whose  minds  the  full  force 
of  modern  discovery  has  been  brought  to  bear — talk 


204  EXAMPLE   MOST   POWERFUL. 

not  of  the  innocence  of  such  a  course ;  there  was  a 
time  when  it  might  have  been  admissible  so  to  talk ; 
but  those  days  of  ignorance,  with  regard  to  many, 
are  past.  New  truths  have  been  developed,  additional 
light  has  been  shed  upon  the  world  ;  the  specific  and 
deadly  poison  contained  in  intoxicating  liquors  has, 
in  the  providence  of  God,  been  fully  revealed,  and 
through  that  revelation  he  now  calls  on  inebriates- 
and  the  abettors  of  inebriation  everywhere  to  repent. 
Yes,  moderate  drinker,  he  calls  on  you ;  you  whose 
manner  of  life  is  at  variance  with  the  settled  order 
of  his  providence ;  he  calls  on  you  not  only  to  save 
yourself  from  the  doom  of  drunkenness,  but  to  save 
also  those  other  misguided  beings,  whom  you  are 
urging  forward  by  the  force  of  your  example  to  a 
like  destruction. 

The  ragged,  squalid,  brutal  rum-drunkard,  who 
raves  in  the  bar-room,  consorts  with  swTine  in  the 
gutter,  or  fills  with  clamor  and  dismay  the  cold  and 
comfortless  abode,  to  which,  in  the  spirit  of  a  demon, 
he  returns  at  night,  much  as  he  injures  himself,  deeply 
wretched  as  he  renders  his  family,  exerts  but  little 
influence  in  beguiling  others  into  an  imitation  of  his 
revolting  conduct.  On  the  contrary,  as  far  as  his  exam 
ple  goes,  it  tends  to  deter  from,  rather  than  allure  to, 
criminal  indulgence.  From  his  degradation  and  his 
woes,  the  note  of  warning  is  sounded  both  loud  and 
long,  that  whoever  will  may  hear  it,  and  hearing 
understand. 

But  reputable,  moderate,  Christian  wine  drinkers, 
that  is,  the  drinkers  of  brandy  or  whiskey,  in  admix- 


MODEEATE   DRINKING.  205 

ture  with  wine  or  other  preparations  falsely  called 
wine,  the  product,  not  of  the  vineyard,  but  of  the 
still  or  the  brew-house ;  these  are  the  men  who  send 
forth  from  the  high  places  of  society,  and  sometimes 
even  from  the  hill  of  Zion  and  the  portals  of  the 
sanctuary,  an  unsuspected,  unrebuked,  but  powerful 
influence,  which  is  secretly  and  silently  doing  on 
every  side,  among  the  young,  among  the  aged,  among 
even  females,  its  work  of  death.  It  is  this  reputable, 
authorized,  moderate  drinking  of  these  disguised 
poisons,  under  the  cover  of  an  orthodox  Christian 
name,  falsely  assumed,  which  encourages  youth  in 
their  occasional  excesses,  reconciles  the  public  mind 
to  holiday  revelries,  shelters  from  deserved  reproach 
the  bar-room  tippler,  and  furnishes  a  salvo  even  for 
the  occasional  inquietude  of  the  brutal  drunkard's 
conscience. 

Regard  this  conduct  as  we  may,  there  can  be  no 
question  how  God  regards  it.  He  has  not  left  himself 
without  a  witness  of  his  displeasure,  in  any  city,  or 
town,  or  village,  or  hamlet  throughout  the  land. 
His  judgments  are,  and  are  seen  to  be  abroad 
among  us. 

Which,  even  of  our  own  families,  or  the  families 
with  which  we  have  become  connected,  have  not 
been  visited  in  the  person  of  some  of  the  members 
thereof  with  the  curse  of  drunkenness,  that  appointed 
retribution  for  the  sin  of  drinking  ?  Which  ?  It  is 
not,  hearer,  yours,  or  yours,  or  mine :  certainly 
there  are  not  many,  perhaps  not  even  one  within  my 
hearing,  who  has  not  seen  some  friend  or  relative  in 

NOTT.  18 


206  ARE   NOT   THE     CHILDREN   VISITED. 

ruin,  unutterable  ruin,  produced  by  this  useless,  inju 
rious,  and  yet  reputable  habit  of  moderate  drinking ; 
a  habit  to  which  men  cling,  against  their  reason, 
against  their  conscience,  often  even  against  their  incli 
nation,  and  this  because  they  shrink  from  acting  on 
their  own  responsibility,  and  lack  the  courage  to  obey 
God  speaking  in  his  providence,  rather  than  man. 

If  there  were  but  one  such  pitiable  object  as  a 
drunkard — a   poor    diseased,    demented    drunkard, 
within  the  whole  circle  of  our  acquaintance,  on  whose 
intellect,  on  whose  moral  sense,   on  whose  whole 
organism  was  inflicted  the  vengeance  which  alcohol 
inflicts,  it  might  well  fill  us  with  dismay ;  what  ought 
our  emotions  then  to  be,  when  there  is  not  perhaps 
a  single  family  throughout  that  circle  which  does  not, 
in  its  relations,  contain  more  than  one  such  object  ? 
Is  not  God   evidently  visiting  the   iniquities   of 
fathers  upon  children  in  this  respect  ?     The  fathers, 
enterprising   and   industrious,   accumulated  wealth, 
acquired  honors,  but  they  conformed  to  the  usages 
which  fashion  sanctioned,  and  presented  the  inebria 
ting  cup  to  their  families,  their  friends,  and  even 
pressed  it,  early  pressed  it,  to  their  children's  lips. 
And  where  are  those  children  now,  and  what  is  their 
condition  ?     Ah,  me  !  their  condition  is  that  of  hope 
less  poverty,  and  they  may  be  found,  if  not  in  prisons 
or  hospitals,  in  the  veriest  rendezvous  of  vice,  and 
among  the   most   degraded   and   abandoned  of  the 
species.      Or  if  not  yet  thus  totally  reduced   and 
publicly  disgraced,  they  may  be  found  in  concealment, 
disgraced  in  their  own  estimation,  disgraced  in  the 


IS   THERE   ANY   ABSOLUTE    NECESSITY.  207 

estimation  of  friends,  humbled,  agonized  friends,  who 
are  struggling  to  keep  up  appearances,  and  conceal 
from  the  public  eye  those  blasted  hopes,  those 
unnatural  crimes,  and  that  unutterable  misery  that 
exists,  in  all  the  aggravation  that  despair  can  impart 
to  misery,  within  their  once  peaceful  and  perhaps 
envied  and  joyous  place  of  habitation. 

Why  then  in  sober  reason  ( for  I  may  say  as  Paul 
said,  "  I  am  not  mad,  but  speak  the  words  of  truth 
and  soberness")  why  then,  though  no  fanatic,  and 
having  no  sympathy  with  fanatics  —  I  repeat  the 
interrogation,  why  should  we,  since  neither  revelation 
nor  nature  enjoins  or  even  sanctions  the  procedure 
— why  should  we  in  the  face  of  all  the  warnings  of 
the  present,  of  the  past,  of  the  word  and  the  provi 
dence  of  God,  persist  in  the  use  of  intoxicating 
liquors  as  a  beverage ;  especially  in  the  use  of  such 
liquors  as  are  bought  and  sold  and  drank  among  us  ? 

Is  there  any  absolute  necessity,  or  even  any  plau 
sible,  I  had  almost  said  imaginable  reason  for  it — I 
mean  a  reason  which  an  intellectual,  and  moral,  and 
immortal  being  would  not  blush  to  name  ? 

Have  those  who  use  these  liquors  as  a  beverage 
any  advantage  over  those  who  do  not  ?  If  so,  what 
is  it  ?  To  say  nothing  of  the  guilt  or  innocence  of 
their  use,  do  those  who  use  them  live  longer,  or  do 
they  enjoy  life  better  while  they  do  live  ?  Is  their 
muscle  firmer,  their  complexion  more  healthy,  or  their 
breath  less  offensive  ?  Can  they  endure  the  summer's 
heat  or  the  winter's  cold  longer?  Are  they  more 
exempt  from  sickness,  or  when  sickness  comes,  less 


208  WHENCE   THIS  INCONSISTENCY. 

liable  to  death?  Have  they  a  clearer  intellect,  a 
serener  frame  of  mind,  a  less  irritable  temper  or 
a  more  approving  conscience  ? 

With  all  this  array  of  bottles,  and  decanters,  and 
demijohns,  and  beer  barrels,  and  rum  jugs,  is  there 
one  attribute  of  body  or  of  mind,  one  joy  of  earth  or 
hope  of  Heaven,  in  reference  to  which  he  who  drinks 
has  any  advantage  over  him  who  does  not  drink  of 
this  profane,  bewildering,  intoxicating  beverage  ? 

Let  us  not  lose  our  reason  with  our  temper.  Now 
that  the  times  of  that  ignorance  which  God  winked  at 
are  past ;  now  that  chemistry,  which  reveals  to  the 
brewer  the  methods  of  adulteration,  reveals  also  to 
mankind  the  methods  of  detection ;  now  that  it  is 
known  not  only  that  alcohol  is  poison,  but  also  that 
other  and  intenser  poisons  are  mingled  with  it  in  the 
distilled  liquors,  in  the  fermented  liquors,  nay,  even 
in  the  very  wines,  falsely  so  called,  which  we  drink ; 
now  that  religion  and  philosophy  are  both  arrayed 
against  it ;  what  is  there  to  induce  a  Christian,  a 
patriot,  or  even  a  political  economist,  to  desire  to 
perpetuate  among  his  countrymen  and  kindred  the 
use  of  liquors — liquors  never  necessary,  often  hurt 
ful,  and  sometimes  even  deadly  ? 

Whence  this  inconsistency?  How  comes  it  that 
individuals  otherwise  intelligent  and  sagacious,  quick 
to  perceive  and  prompt  to  pursue  their  true  interest, 
should  in  this  particular  commit  an  error  as  flagrant 
as  fatal,  and  already  sad  with  disappointment  and 
bleeding  with  wounds, — 

"  Still  press  against  that  spear, 
On  whose  sharp  point  peace  bleeds  and  hope  expires  7" 


DRUNKENNESS   IS   TERRIBLE.  209 

After  all  our  experience,  our  bitter  experience,  of 
the  fruits  of  intoxicating  liquors,  they  must  not  be 
relinquished ;  must  not,  unless  in  very  measured 
terms,  be  spoken  against. 

And  yet  it  is  not  blessings,  but  judgments,  nume 
rous  and  grievous  to  be  borne,  that  the  use  of  these 
liquors  has  brought  upon  us  ;  nor  on  us  alone — pau 
perism  and  crime,  disease  and  death,  have  marked 
their  introduction,  and  their  progress,  as  a  beverage, 
on  every  continent  and  island,  and  among  every 
kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  on  the  planet  we 
inhabit.  % 

Drunkenness  is  terrible,  and  is  admitted  to  be  ter 
rible.  Half  the  miseries  of  the  human  family  spring 
from  drunkenness,  a,nd  are  known  to  spring  from  it ; 
and  yet  we  are  unwilling  to  relinquish  the  use  of  the 
very  articles  that  produce  it,  the  only  articles  that 
produce  it,  and  which,  unless  we  change  our  habits, 
or  the  course  of  nature  changes,  will  continue  to 
produce  it  among  our  posterity,  through  all  future 
generations ! 

Talk  not  of  ultraism !  than  this,  can  there  be  greater 
ultraism?  For  Christians,  for  Christian  parents, 
following  the  biers  of  neighbors,  and  friends,  and 
kindred,  and  standing  amid  grave-yards  filled  with  the 
victims  of  intoxicating  liquors ;  for  Christians  and 
Christian  parents  thus  situated  to  cling  to  their  cups, 
and  array  themselves  against  the  temperance  reforma 
tion  ;  or  for  them  to  lack  the  moral  courage  to  remove 
at  once  and  forever,  from  their  tables  and  their  side 
boards,  and  from  before  the  eyes  of  their  children, 

NOTT.  *18 


210      TEETOTALERS  FEEE  FROM  BLAME. 

those  elements  of  temptation,  which  are  the  admitted 
cause  of  all  this  guilt  and  misery ;  if  this  be  not 
fanaticism,  and  fanaticism  the  most  adverse  to  the 
hopes  of  the  country  and  of  the  world,  then  I  know 
not  whether  anything  exists  upon  this  planet  that 
deserves  the  name. 

In  the  guilt  of  this  infliction  of  misery  and  waste 
of  life  which  intoxicating  liquors  occasion,  we  who 
practice  total  abstinence  are  not  partakers.  What 
ever  other  sins  may  be  laid  to  our  charge,  we  are  free 
from  this  one  sin ;  we  do  not  taste  this  treacherous 
cup  ourselves  nor  put  it  to  our  neighbor's  lips. 

Since  we  became  "  teetotalers,"  we  have  not 
cooperated  with  the  distiller,  the  beer  brewer,  or  the 
wine  brewer,  or  rum  selling  grocer,  in  training  up 
victims  for  the  dyspepsia,  or  dropsy,  or  consumption, 
or  cholera,  to  operate  upon. 

Nay,  we  have  done  nothing  to  furnish,  even  indi 
rectly,  by  inebriation,  new  recruits  of  paupers  for  the 
poor-house,  criminals  for  the  prison-house,  maniacs 
for  the  asylum,  or  sots  for  the  gutter  or  the  grave 
yard.  Of  the  thousands  of  the  debased  beings  now 
begging  in  rags,  toiling  among  convicts,  or  raving 
with  delirium  tremens,  none  owe  their  debasement 
or  their  misery  to  the  influence  of  our  counsel  or 
example. 

But  so  far  as  we  are  concerned,  we  have  taken 
from  the  inebriate  the  shelter  of  both  ;  we  have  put 
it  out  of  his  power,  while  haranguing  to  his  com 
panions  in  public,  or  communing  with  himself  in 
private,  to  lay  that  flattering  unction  to  his  soul,  that 


A   CONSOLATION.  211 

sober,  reflecting,  moral  men,  nay,  that  even  professors 
of  religion,  nay,  even  teachers  of  religion,  are  on  his 
side,  and  that  in  their  conduct  he  can  find  a  vindica 
tion  of  his  own. 

Especially  have  we  put  it  beyond  the  power  of 
those  interesting  youth,  removed  from  their  friends 
and  their  home,  and  entrusted  to  our  care ;  youth 
surrounded  by  so  many  snares,  exposed  to  so  many 
temptations ;  especially  have  we  put  it  beyond  their 
power  to  find,  in  our  precepts  or  example,  either 
pretext  or  apology  for  tasting  even  of  that  fatal 
chalice  which,  by  bewildering  the  reason  and  inflaming 
the  passions,  prepares  the  way  for  taking  the  inceptive 
step  in  that  downward  course  that  leads  through  the 
dram  shop,  the  oyster  cellar,  the  play-house,  the 
gaming  room  and  those  other  nameless  places  of  juve 
nile  resort,  aye  !  places  which  I  may  not  name,  down 
to  the  abodes  of  death. 

In  this  thought  there  is  a  consolation,  as  well  as  in 
that  other  thought,  that  whatever  may  be  our  future 
lot  on  earth,  whatever  unknown  and  unexpected  ills 
may  be  held  in  reservation  for  us  and  ours,  one  thing 
is  certain,  come  what  will,  if  true  to  our  principles, 
we  are  at  least  secure  from  that  whole  class  of  curses 
comprehended  in  the  single  curse  of  drunkenness. 

Drinkers,  I  mean  moderate  drinkers,  of  all  intoxi 
cating  liquors,  whether  students  or  citizens,  profes 
sors  of  religion  or  not,  be  assured  that  neither  reve 
lation  or  nature  are  on  your  side,  and  that  whether 
you  hear  or  forbear,  the  uniformity  of  Providence 
will  be  maintained  and  the  purposes  and  government 


212          PAUSE  AND  LOOK  BACK. 

of  God  will  stand,  and  in  the  onward  progress  of 
time,  what  has  been  will  be  hereafter. 

Pause,  then,  I  beseech  you ;  look  back  on  the  past, 
and  see  within  the  circle  of  your  acquaintance  how 
many  families  you  can  number  up  who  have  not  fur 
nished  to  this  dread  destroyer  at  least  one  victim. 
Here  I  might But  I  forbear.  *  *  *  *  * 

It  were  not  befitting  publicly  to  lift  that  veil  that 
covers  the  painful  reminiscences  that  occur.  Let  it 
rest ;  or  rather  lift  it  mentally,  and  in  the  retirement 
of  that  secret  chamber  of  your  hearts,  lift  it ; 
yes,  ye  parents  who  have  children  now  moderate 
drinkers — husbands  that  have  wives  now  mode 
rate  drinkers  —  wives  that  have  husbands  now 
moderate  drinkers — lift  that  veil,  and,  in  the  light 
the  past  sheds  upon  the  future,  consider  what  they 
will  hereafter  be,  and  prepare  betimes  for  your  coming 
destiny. 

O !  Great  God !  if  the  past  be  an  index  to  the 
future  !  — and  why  should  it  not  be  ?  — if  the  past  be 
an  index  to  the  future,  who  can,  where  intoxicating 
liquors,  as  a  beverage,  are  in  use,  look  around  upon  a 
family,  however  lovely,  however  innocent,  however 
full  of  promise,  without  shuddering  ? 

And  why  should  not  the  past  be  an  index  to  the 
future  ?  Admit  this,  —  and  is  there  anything  unrea 
sonable  in  its  admission? — admit  this  and  I  ask  no 
more. 

This  admitted,  and  what  discreet  parent  is  there, 
what  ingenuous  child  is  there,  who  would  not  practice 
the  self-denial  and  make  the  sacrifice,  if  there  be 


SELF-DENIAL.  213 

either  self-denial  or  sacrifice,  that  would  be  availing 
to  change  the  course  of  destiny,  and  ward  off  from 
those  we  love  the  impending  danger  ? 

There  is,  hearer,  as  has  been  shown,  such  a  self- 
denial  and  such  a  sacrifice. 

Time  will  tell  who  of  you  have  the  magnanimity 
to  act  accordingly,  and  eternity  reveal  the  mighty 
consequences  of  that  action. 


LECTURE  No.   IX. 


MORAL  AND   NATURAL   LAWS  AS   APPLIED  TO 
STRONG  DRINK. 

Nature  still  farther  interrogated  —  Another  page  turned  —  The 
response  in  the  structure  of  creation  and  the  orderings  of  Provi 
dence  —  Man  made  for  temperance  and  chastity  —  Excess  fatal  — 
The  intrepid  engineer — The  voice  of  Nature,  the  voice  of  God  — 
His  disapprobation  of  intoxicating  liquors  stamped  on  the  whole 
human  organism  —  Especially  the  human  stomach  —  Explanation 
of  the  drawings  of  Doct.  Sewal  —  The  maniac. 

IN  the  preceding  lecture  we  proposed  to  enter,  and 
interrogate  nature  in  her  own  temple,  concerning  the 
will  of  God,  and  the  duty  of  man  in  relation  to  the 
use  of  intoxicating  liquors.  We  have  done  so,  and 
have  heard  the  response  that  was  returned. 

Let  us  again  enter  the  same  temple — repeat  the 
same  interrogation — and  turning  another  leaf  in  the 
book  of  nature,  attend  to  the  response  returned — a 
response  returned  in  the  visible  structure  of  creation 
and  the  daily  orderings  of  Providence. 

Throughout  the  entire  empire  of  Jehovah  design 
is  apparent,  and  in  all  the  provinces  of  that  empire 
means  are  adapted  to  ends. 

The  oak,  exposed  to  the  onset  of  the  tempest  and 
liable  to  be  riven  by  the  lightnings  of  thunder,  while 
it  raises  upwards  its  massive  trunk,  and  spreads  out 


WHY   THIS   DIFFERENCE   OF   STRUCTURE.         215 

its  giant  branches,  sends  downwards  its  roots  of 
strength  amid  the  crevices  of  the  everlasting  rocks, 
and  thus  stays  itself  on  its  broad,  deep,  strong  foun 
dations.  Whereas  the  ivy  that  entwines  that  trunk, 
and  the  osier  that  grows  beneath  the  shadow  of  those 
branches,  are  frail,  delicate,  and  proclaimed  by  their 
very  structure  to  be  designed,  not  to  furnish,  but  to 
receive  protection. 

The  eye  and  the  wing  of  the  eagle  "  that  dwelleth 
upon  the  crag  of  the  rock  and  seeketh  her  prey  afar 
off,"  are  suited  to  her  daring  flight  and  extensive 
field  of  vision. 

Strength  is  given  to  the  war  horse;  his  neck  is 
clothed  with  thunder — the  sinews  of  Behemoth  are 
like  brass,  his  bones  like  bars  of  iron.  The  album  of 
the  forest  tree  is  protected  by  its  rind  ;  the  organism 
of  fish  by  their  scales ;  of  brutes  by  their  fur ;  of 
birds  by  their  plumage  ;  but  the  human  organism  is 
furnished  with  no  adequate  corresponding  protection, 
against  either  the  summer's  heat  or  the  winter's  cold, 
and  yet  that  organism  is  frail,  delicate  and  compli 
cated,  beyond  all  imagining. 

What  means  this  difference  of  structure  and  of 
defence,  if  it  do  not  indicate  a  corresponding  differ 
ence  of  design?  In  this,  0  man,  "fearfully  and 
wonderfully  made,"  thou  hearest  the  voice  of  thy 
Creator  saying,  "  thou  wast  made  for  temperance  and 
chastity — for  the  government  of  reason,  for  the 
restraints  of  conscience  and  of  religion — destined  to 
partake  of  purer  joys  and  presently  to  enter  on  a 
higher  and  holier  state-  of  being,  for  which  thou 


216  LAVOISIER. 

canst  only  be  prepared  by  a  practiced  self-govern 
ment,  and  a  voluntary  self-denial ;  thy  frail  mechanism 
cannot  endure  the  unrestrained  cravings  of  excited 
appetite  or  the  rude  impulses  of  inflamed  passion. 

In  health,  aliments  alone  supply  all  the  energy 
that  such  a  structure  as  thine  can  endure  ;  and  it  is 
on  rare  and  great  occasions,  only  in  sickness  or  other 
marked  crises  of  thy  being,  that  additional  and 
auxiliary  stimulants  are  admissible  ;  and  the  man 
who  indulges  in  the  habitual  use  of  such  stimulants, 
does  this  in  defiance  of  law,  a  law  written  by  the 
finger  of  God,  in  living  characters,  on  the  delicate 
organism  of  his  own  body;*  an  organism  against 


*  Aliments  are  necessary  as  well  to  provide  for  the  growth  of  the 
body  in  early  life,  as  to  repair  the  waste  which,  in  old  and  young 
alike,  is  ever  taking  place. 

Lavoisier,  a  celebrated  French  chemist,  states  "  that  the  skin  alone, 
during  every  twenty-four  hours,  parts  with  twenty  ounces  of  useless 
matter.  To  this  important  source  of  waste  may  be  added  that  of 
the  alimentary  canal  and  various  organs  of  excretion,  not  omitting 
also  the  impure  air  which  is  continually  being  emitted  from  the 
lungs.  This  large  separation  of  useless  matter  indicates  the  neces 
sity  of  a  continual  supply  of  fresh  nourishment.  The  system  other 
wise  would  be  liable  to  premature  dissolution  or  decay.  To  effect 
this  restoration  the  reparative  organs  must  be  in  a  healthy  condition. 
Derangement  of  the  digestive  functions,  in  particular,  is  inimical  to 
healthy  restoration.  The  lungs,  the  heart,  the  liver,  &c.,  have  each 
their  separate  functions,  and  contribute  their  appropriate  share 
towards  restoring  the  waste  of  the  system.  Derangement,  then,  of 
any  or  all  of  these  functions  is  more  or  less  injurious  to  health  by 
preventing  those  processes  which  are  essential  to  its  continuance." 

To  supply  this  waste  which  is  perpetually  taking  place  (Anti-Bac 
chus,  p.  178),  "  our  food  is  digested,  converted  into  blood,  and  circu 
lated  to  every  point,  both  external  and  internal,  of  our  frame,  and  by  this 


ST.   MARTIN  —  DIFFUSIVE    STIMULANTS.          217 

which,  by  such  indulgence,  he  is  performing  a  suicidal 
act,  the  effect  of  which  act  soon  becomes  apparent, 


means  we  are  nourished  and  our  strength  is  renewed.  Animal  food, 
wholesome  bread,  nutritious  vegetables  and  fruits,  when  properly 
digested,  amply  and  suitably  supply  the  waste  and  absorption  of  the 
body.  The  gastric  juice  is  produced  in  exact  proportion  to  the  wants 
of  the  system.  In  a  laboring  man  the  expenditure  arid  exhaustion 
is  much  greater  than  in  one  who  is  inactive,  and  it  is  a  well  known 
fact  that  in  the  stomach  of  the  former  there  is  a  larger  quantity  of 
gastric  juice  ready  to  digest  or  chyme  a  greater  quantity  of  food, 
arid  for  this  reason,  the  recluse,  if  he  eat  as  much  as  the  plowman, 
must  suffer  from  indigestion,  because  his  stomach  finds  it  difficult 
to  digest  more  than  his  absorption  actually  requires.  It  must  also 
be  observed  that  nothing  but  '  solid  substances'  can  be  digested. 
The  stomach  cannot  digest  water  or  any  other  liquor,  and  therefore 
cannot  turn  it  into  blood.  Dr.  Beaumont  found,  in  the  case  of  St. 
Martin,  that  liquids,  as  soon  as  they  entered  the  stomach,  were 
absorbed  by  the  venous  capillary  tubes  which  are  spread  over  that 
organ,  and  consequently  carried  out  of  the  body  by  the  kidneys. 
Milk  was  immediately  coagulated,  the  whey  absorbed  and  the  curd 
digested;  soups,  by  these  little  tubes  were  filtered,  the  solid  parts 
retained  for  digestion  and  the  liquid  or  water  taken  into  the  veins. 
The  same  is  the  case  with  beer,  cider  and  wine.  The  water  which 
they  contain,  and  the  spirit,  or  strength,  which  is  lighter  than  water, 
are  taken  up  by  the  absorbents,  and  the  very,  very  small  portion  of 
solid  matter  which  is  left,  is,  if  not  too  hard  for  such  a  process, 
subjected  to  digestion. 

"  Aliments  are  indispensable  to  health  and  vigor,  and  even  to  life 
itself.  It  is  otherwise  with  stimulants.  Stimulants,  whether  local 
or  diffusible,  that  is,  whether  acting  merely  on  a  single  organ  or  on 
several,  neither  repair  the  wastes  of  the  organism,  or  add  to  the 
energy  of  the  vital  principle.  They  accelerate,  merely  for  the  time 
being,  the  action  of  the  system,  and  by  accelerating  exhaust  the  vis 
vitce,  as  well  as  blunt  the  sensibility  of  the  whole  nervous  structure 
on  which  they  operate. 

Local  or  simple  stimulants  (Bacchus,  p.  323),  irritate  the  parts 
with  which  they  come  in  contact,  and  affect  the  other  parts  of  the 
NOTT.  19 


218  CONSCIOUS   SENSATION. 

in  the  deranged  movement  of  that  organism ;  in  the 
suspended  performance  of  its  several  functions;  and 


system  only  by  reason  of  the  vital  connection  which  exists  between 
the  parts  injured,  and  the  other  portions  of  the  system.  A  strong 
stimulant,  for  instance,  applied  to  the  stomach,  injures  its  functions, 
and  consequently  more  or  less  interferes  with  its  capability  to  carry 
on  perfect  digestion.  Hence  other  organic  functions  suffer  indirectly, 
in  part,  by  reason  of  their  being  deprived  of  proper  nourishment, 
and  partly  because  of  the  morbid  sympathies  which  are  excited  in 
that  important  organ. 

2d.  Diffusive  stimulants  also  act  injuriously  on  the  parts  with 
which  they  come  in  contact,  but  differ  from  the  former  class  in  their 
influence,  being  extended  over  the  whole  of  the  system.  If  an  indi 
vidual  swallow  a  small  proportion  of  pure  spirit  on  an  empty  stomach, 
a  sensation  of  burning  or  irritation  ensues.  Other  and  more  distant 
organs,  however,  shortly  afterwards  participate.  The  brain  in  par 
ticular  exhibits  marks  of  disorder,  and  a  species  of  temporary 
delirium,  or  mental  excitement  follows,  in  addition  to  general  physical 
disturbance.  All  of  these  symptoms  indicate  some  peculiar  influence 
by  which  diffusive  stimulants  expand  and  operate  over  the  whole  of 
the  animal  functions.  The  organic  medium  by  which  this  is  effected 
will  subsequently  be  referred  to. 

For  these  reasons  it  will  easily  be  perceived  how  incomparably 
more  dangerous  are  the  class  of  diffusive  stimulants  than  those 
designated  as  "  simple  stimulants."  The  latter  exercise  their  inju 
rious  powers  on  a  limited  scale  only;  while  the  former  possess  the 
property  of  injuring  one  or  more  of  the  vital  functions  at  the  same 
time.  The  brain,  for  example,  may  be  silently  undergoing  destruc 
tive  changes,  while  at  the  same  period  the  stomach  and  its  functions 
may  be  so  disordered  as  to  hinder  digestion  and  nutrition ;  and  thus 
the  two  grand  sources  of  life  and  energy  suffer  either  simultane 
ously  or  successively  from  the  same  pernicious  cause. 

The  brain  in  this  case,  of  course,  is  affected  through  the  medium 
of  the  nervous  system,  which  is  essential  to  life,  and  supplies  all  the 
functions  through  their  respective  organs  with  their  vital  energy ;  con 
sequently  an  injury  done  to  the  nervous,  necessarily  extends  its  dele 
terious  effects  to  all  the  operations  of  the  system,  and  this  in 


STIMULANTS THE   VITAL    POWER.  219 

the  speedy  and  inevitable  dissolution  of  all  its  parts 
— I  say  suicidal,  because  this  premature  dissolution 


proportion  to  the  susceptibility  and  energy  of  the  different  parts,  as 
regulated  by  their  organic  constitution. 

The  peculiar  powers  of  the  nervous  system  bear  an  important  rela 
tion  in  regard  to  the  present  inquiry.  In  relation  to  diet,  one  of 
nature's  sentinels  consists  in  the  distinct  sensation  which  is  experi 
enced  when  the  stomach  is  loaded  with  food,  either  improper  in  its 
quantity  or  injurious  in  its  quality.  The  class  of  diffusive  stimulants, 
however,  when  taken  in  moderate  quantities,  produce  more  or  less 
injury  without  exciting  conscious  sensation  in  the  stomach.  General 
exhiiiration  usually  follows  moderate  vinous  indulgence,  but  the 
stomach  itself,  when  in  a  state  of  health,  may  or  may  not  display 
conscious  gratification  or  dislike. 

In  this  consists  the  great  danger  of  moderate  drinking.  Indi 
viduals  commonly  do  not  feel  any  uneasy  sensations  consequent  on 
moderate  indulgence  in  wine.  They  cannot,  therefore,  for  a  moment 
suspect  the  slightest  possibility  of  injurious  consequences  arising 
from  a  cause  apparently  so  innocent  and  devoid  of  danger.  Expe 
rience  and  extended  observation,  however,  lead  us  to  a  contrary 
conclusion.  The  healthy  relations  of  the  system  may  for  some  time 
be  almost  imperceptibly  undermined,  and  its  harmonious  operations 
disturbed,  and  not  the  slightest  suspicion  be  entertained  that  these 
changes  have  originated  in  some  injurious  though  silent  action  on  the 
digestive  organs.  "  This  circumstance,"  remarks  Dr.  Johnson, 
"  leads  us  to  divide  into  two  great  classes  those  symptomatic  or  sym 
pathetic  affections  of  various  organs  in  the  body,  dependent  on  a 
morbid  condition  of  the  stomach  and  bowels,  viz :  into  that  which  is 
accompanied  by  conscious  sensation,  irritation,  pain,  or  obviously  dis 
ordered  functions  of  the  organs  of  digestion  —  and  into  that  which  is 
not  accompanied  by  sensible  disorder  of  the  said  organs  or  their 
functions.  Contrary  to  the  general  opinion,  I  venture  to  maintain, 
from  very  long  and  attentive  observation  of  phenomena  in  others,  as 
well  as  in  my  own  person,  that  this,  latter  class  of  human  afflictions 
is  infinitely  more  prevalent,  more  distressing  and  more  obstinate 
than  the  former.  It  is  a  class  of  disorders,  the  source,  seat  and 
nature  of  which  are,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten.  overlooked,  and  for 


220  THE    VITAL    POWER. 

of  a  structure,  formed  originally  for  greater  endur 
ance,  is  not  owing,  either  in  its  inception,  its  progress 


very  obvious  reasons,  because  the  morbid  phenomena  present  them 
selves  anywhere  and  everywhere  except  in  the  spot  where  they  have 
their  origin."  —  Essay  on  Indigestion,  page  8. 

Thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  individuals  are  in  the  present 
day  martyrs  to  indigestion,  and  more  or  less  suffer  from  organic  disor 
ders  of  various  kinds,  altogether  attributable  to  the  moderate  and 
habitual  use  of  intoxicating  liquors. 

Stimulants  not  only  diminish  the  excitability  of  the  system,  they 
also  diminish  the  vital  power,  "  that  property  possessed  by  the  human 
frame  which  may  be  denominated  the  self  preserving  power  of 
nature."  The  vital  power  is  that  mysterious  influence  which  per 
vades  all  living  matter,  imparting  life,  vigor  and  animation,  in  addi 
tion  to  the  power  of  sustaining  existence  for  a  limited  period.  It 
sustains  man  through  extraordinary  physical  exertion,  and  endows 
his  constitution  with  the  power  to  resist,  to  a  certain  extent,  the 
effects  of  excessive  heat  or  cold,  labor  and  fatigue.  Man  is  pecu 
liarly  subject  to  the  vicissitudes  of  climate  and  of  seasons.  Business 
or  pleasure  may  direct  him  to  countries,  the  climates  of  which  are 
either  in  the  extremes  of  heat  or  cold.  In  his  own  or  foreign  lands, 
he  may  be  exposed  to  sudden  impressions,  arising  from  the  changes 
of  the  seasons.  All  of  these  vicissitudes  the  vital  power  enables  him 
to  sustain  with  comparative  impunity,  provided  he  has  not  exhausted 
its  influence  by  intemperate  habits.  The  same  power,  in  a  healthy 
condition,  preserves  him  from  the  injurious  influence  of  marsh 
miasma,  poisonous  vegetable  exhalations,  and  other  noxious 
effluvia,  to  the  dangers  of  which  most  persons,  more  or  less  subject. 

The  vital  power  is  the  same  in  all  human  beings;  modified,  it  is 
true,  by  peculiar  circumstances.  It  is  possessed  by  the  native  of 
the  torrid,  as  well  as  the  frigid  and  temperate  zones,  and  sustains 
him  in  all  the  physical  exertions  to  which  he  is  liable.  The  tenacity 
of  this  principle  of  nature  displays  itself  in  the  wonderful  exertions 
of  travelers. 

The  Arab,  with  a  very  small  proportion  of  sustenance,  traverses 
scorching  deserts  for  hundreds  and  even  thousands  of  miles ;  the 
soldier,  in  the  midst  of  the  most  trying  physical  circumstances, 


DE.    HUFELAND.  221 

or  its  consummation,  to  any  unavoidable  accident — 
to  any  necessity  of  nature,  but  to  the  violence  of  a 


endures  long  and  enervating  marches.  A  light  proportion  of  food,  a 
few  hours'  rest,  and  the  body  is  invigorated,  and  again  capable  of 
encountering  labors  of  an  astonishing  character.  Such  is  the  sus 
taining  and  life  preserving  influence  of  the  vital  power.  How 
important,  then,  that  mankind  should  minutely  ascertain  those  cir 
cumstances  which  contribute  to  enervate  and  destroy  this  active 
principle. 

It  may  be  observed,  that  this  power  can  only  be  secured  in  a  heal 
thy  state  by  the  regular  and  harmonious  action  of  all  the  functions 
of  the  system.  It  is  subject  to,  and  a  consequence  of  a  due  perfor 
mance  of  the  organic  laws.  Proper  food,  air,  exercise  and  rest  are 
essential  to  its  continuance.  Every  circumstance,  therefore,  which 
tends  to  derange  or  enfeeble  the  animal  functions,  diminishes  in  a 
greater  or  lesser  degree  the  force  of  the  vital  power.  Many  circum 
stances  contribute  to  this  result,  but  among  other  causes  none  have  so 
great  a  tendency  to  decrease  the  vitality  of  the  system  as  that  of 
intemperance.  Intoxicating  liquors  for  a  time  increase  the  excita 
bility  of  the  vital  power.  This  effect,  however,  is  quickly  succeeded 
by  languor  and  exhaustion.  Intemperance  thus  shortens  the  dura 
tion  of  human  life.  Each  act  of  indulgence  decreases  the  energy 
and  strength  of  the  vital  power,  until  at  last  the  unhappy  victim  of 
strong  drink  falls  an  unavoidable  and  premature  victim  to  his 
unnatural  career. 

To  obtain  a  more  familiar  notion  of  the  nature  of  the  vital  power, 
it  may  be  interesting,  by  way  of  illustration,  to  compare  the  human 
frame  to  a  machine  of  limited  powers,  in  other  words,  one  which,  by 
previous  experiment,  is  calculated  to  undergo  for  a  limited  period  a 
certain  degree  of  labor.  Produce  more  labor  from  this  machine  than 
it  is  calculated  to  perform,  and  in  the  same  proportion  will  be  the 
limit  of  its  duration.  There  is  an  exact  analogy  in  this  case  with 
respect  to  the  human  frame.  The  Creator  has  given  to  our  physical 
constitution  a  power  sufficient  for  all  natural  purposes.  If  by  intem 
perance,  of  whatever  character,  or  arising  from  whatever  source, 
we  excite  irregular  action  in  the  system,  the  human  machine  becomes 
proportionably  debilitated  in  its  power  and  limited  in  its  duration. 

NOTT.  *19 


222  DR.    DOD. 

pressure  to  which  it  had  been  subjected  through  the 
rashness  of  the  agent  to  whose  supervision  it  had  by 
its  Maker  been  subjected. 


These  general  remarks  will  enable  the  reader  to  understand  why  it 
has  been  asserted  that  the  length  of  a  man's  life  may  be  estimated  by 
the  pulsations  he  has  strength  to  perform.  An  ingenious  author,  from 
this  circumstance,  makes  the  following  calculations :  If  we  allo*y 
seventy  years  for  the  usual  age  of  man,  and  sixty  pulsations  in  a 
minute  for  the  common  measure  of  pulses  of  a  temperate  person, 
the  number  of  pulsations  in  his  whole  life  would  amount  to 
2,207,520,000.  If  by  intemperance  he  force  his  blood  into  a  more 
rapid  motion,  so  as  to  give  seventy-five  pulses  in  a  minute,  the  same 
number  of  pulses  would  be  completed  in  fifty-six  years.  His  life  by 
this  means  would  be  reduced  fourteen  years.  The  celebrated  physi 
cian,  Dr.  Hufeland,  appears  to  lay  much  stress  on  the  circulation  with 
respect  to  longevity.  He  remarks  that  "  a  slow  uniform  pulse  is  a 
strong  sign  of  long  life  and  a  great  means  to  promote  it."  And 
again,  "  a  principal  cause  of  our  internal  consumption  or  spontaneous 
wasting,  lies  in  the  continual  circulation  of  the  blood.  He  who  has 
a  hundred  pulsations  in  a  minute  may  be  wasted  far  more  quickly 
than  he  who  has  only  fifty.  Those  therefore  whose  pulse  is  always 
quick,  arid  in  whom  every  trifling  agitation  of  mind  or  every  additional 
drop  of  wine  increases  the  motion  of  the  heart,  are  unfortunate 
candidates  for  longevity,  since  their  whole  life  is  a  continual  fever." 
Dr.  Dod  informs  us  that  under  the  increased  excitement  of  alcohol 
"  the  circulation  is  quickened  and  the  diameter  of  the  vessels  through 
which  the  blood  has  to  flow  is  diminished."  More  work  is  demanded 
at  the  very  time  that  the  capacity  of  these  wonderful  tubes  for  their 
labor  is  decreased.  In  the  wise  economy  of  nature,  "  a  given  amount 
of  blood,  with  a  given  force  in  a  given  time,"  and  through  pipes  of  a 
given  and  proper  "  diameter,"  is  to  be  circulated  ;  by  drinking  intoxi 
cating  drinks,  we  increase  the  quantity  of  fluid  which  we  have 
changed  into  fiery,  contaminated  blood,  we  increase  the  force  that 
propels  it,  we  shorten  the  time  in  which  it  is  to  be  done,  and  at  the 
same  moment  decrease  the  diameter  of  the  tubes  through  which  it  is 
to  pass  —  and  is  it  any  wonder  that  blood  vessels  burst,  sometimes 
on  the  brain  and  cause  instant  death  1  sometimes  in  the  lungs,  and 


THE    INTEEPID    ENGINEEK.  223 

When  during  the  late  storm  on  the  great  western 
lakes,  that  intrepid  engineer,  of  whom  we  have  heard 
so  much,  planted  his  foot  upon  the  lever  of  the  safety 
valve,  and  caused  his  fires  to  be  plied  with  that  inflam 
mable  combustible,  which  suddenly  supplied  in  such 

afflict  for  life  that  mysterious  purifier  of  the  blood  1  Is  it  wonderful 
that  by  the  bursting  of  overworked,  overheated  and  poisoned  ves- 
less,  "  diseased  deposits"  should  be  formed  which  may  ulcerate  the 
lungs,  ossify  the  heart,  produce  cancers  and  calculi  of  various  descrip 
tions  and  kinds  1 

Bleeding  at  the  nose,  hsemorrhiodal  and  other  diseased  fluxes  and 
swellings  occur  from  the  same  cause.  As  alcohol  especially,  seeks 
the  heart,  the  seat  of  life,  and  propels  it  with  a  deadly  velocity,  and 
seeks  the  brain,  the  seat  of  thought,  intelligence  and  moral  judg 
ment,  and,  by  loading  the  blood  vessels  of  that  delicate  organ, 
encumbers  the  head,  is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  palpitation  of  the 
heart  ensues,  or  that  the  mind  is  too  confused  to  think,  or  that  the 
eye  becomes  dim,  the  ears  deaf,  and  the  tongue  clammy  7  Persons 
that  drink  stimulating  liquors  have  a  swimming  in  their  heads,  a 
dimness  before  their  vision,  a  ringing  in  their  ears,  a  nervous 
sense  of  obstruction  in  the  organs  of  speech,  a  supposed  ball  rising 
up  in  their  throats,  and  a  palsied  shake  of  the  hand  and  tottering 
of  the  limbs.  And  nothing  could  be  more  natural  than  that  it  should 
be  so. 

Dr.  Gordon,  of  the  London  hospital,  states  that  from  actual  obser 
vations  on  his  own  patients,  he  knew  that  seventy-five  cases  of  dis 
ease  out  of  every  hundred  could  be  traced  to  drinking.  He  also 
declared  that  most  of  the  bodies  of  moderate  drinkers,  which,  when 
at  Edinburgh,  he  had  opened,  were  found  diseased  in  the  liver ;  arid 
that  these  symptoms  appeared  also  in  the  bodies  of  temperate  peo 
ple  which  he  had  examined  in  the  West  Indies.  He  more  than  once 
says  "  that  the  bodies  whose  livers  he  had  found  diseased  were  those 
of  moral  and  religious  people."  The  same  witness  observed  that 
"  the  mortality  among  the  coal  whippers  who  are  brought  to  the 
London  hospital  is  frightful."  He  also  adds  that  "  the  moment  these 
beer  drinkers  are  attacked  with  any  acute  disease,  they  are  unable  to 
bear  depletion,  and  die  directly." 


224  THE   INTREPID   ENGINEER. 

quantities  the  mighty  agent  by  which  that  noble 
steamer,  in  despite  of  the  billows  and  the  tempest, 
forced  her  way  off  from  that  rock-bound  shore  on 
which  she  had  been  driven,  and  which  threatened  all 
on  board  with  instant  and  inevitable  death — when 
during  that  storm  that  intrepid  engineer  planted  his 
foot  on  the  lever  of  his  safety  valve  and  caused  his 
fires  to  be  plied  with  such  inflammable  combustible, 
would  he  have  done  this,  think  you,  in  the  same  assur 
ance  of  hope,  had  his  manner  been,  reckless  of  con 
sequence,  to  subject  his  boilers  and  machinery,  on 
every  trivial  occasion,  to  the  like  extreme  and  fright 
ful  pressure ;  or  had  these  been  so  subjected  and 
weakened  and  rent  thereby,  would  they  have  responded 
to  the  demand  made  upon  them  in  this  hour  of  danger  ? 
Ah  no  !  it  was  because  that  engineer,  prudent  as  well 
as  intrepid,  had  hitherto  spared  his  machinery  and 
husbanded  his  resources,  that  when  the  crisis  came, 
awful  as  it  was,  he  was  prepared  to  meet  it. 

There  are  crises  in  other  voyages  to  which  the 
crisis  just  alluded  to  is  quite  analogous,  when  un 
wonted  energy  of  action  is  demanded,  an  energy 
which  stimulants  are  availing  to  call  forth.  But  even 
stimulants  avail  not  where  the  organism  itself,  or  the 
sensibility  of  the  organism  on  which  stimulants  ope 
rate,  has  been  impaired  by  stimulants.  And  hence 
the  victim  of  disease  often  becomes  prematurely  the 
victim  of  death,  because  he  has  familiarized  in  health, 
and  by  familiarizing  in  health  rendered  impotent  in 
sickness,  those  remedial  agencies  which  God  in  mercy 
has  provided  for  those  seasons  of  affliction. 


ASK   TOUE   PHYSICIAN.  225 

Know  you  not,  drinker,  that  by  the  use  in  health 
of  that  which  was  provided  for  sickness,  you  are  re 
versing  the  order  of  nature,  and  rendering  health 
more  precarious,  sickness  more  speedy  and  more 
violent,  and  recovery  therefrom  more  doubtful  and 
more  difficult  ? 

Ask  your  physician,  and  he  will  tell  you  that  even 
the  moderate  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  in  health 
shortens  its  duration,  and  increases  in  sickness  the 
chances  of  death.*  And  how  should  it  be  otherwise  ? 


*  Those  who  have  been  accustomed  to  live  freely,  invariably  fall 
an  easy  prey  to  the  attacks  of  disease.  With  such  persons  the 
slightest  injury  is  frequently  attended  Avith  the  most  serious  results. 
The  vital  functions  are  unable  to  perform  their  accustomed  labors, 
and  consequently  the  vis  natures  is  incapable  of  resisting  the  effects 
cither  of  internal  or  external  injuries.  Thus  the  slightest  cold  or 
comparatively  trifling  physical  injury,  is  in  general  attended  with 
danger  and  often  with  loss  of  life.  In  some  inebriate  cases  the  prin 
ciple  of  vitality  is  so  small  that  it  is  suddenly  extinguished  by  little 
more  than  ordinary  exertion  or  exposure  to  unusual  heat  or  cold ; 
and  even,  as  has  not  unfrequently  happened,  by  simple  indulgence  in 
a  glass  of  cold  water.  The  substance  of  the  following  remarks  not 
very  long  ago  went  the  round  of  the  public  papers :  Medical  men  of 
experience  in  the  metropolis  are  familiar  with  the  fact  that  confirmed 
beer  drinkers  in  London  can  scarcely  scratch  their  fingers  without 
risk  of  their  lives.  A  copious  London  beer  drinker  is  all  one  vital 
part ;  he  wears  his  heart  upon  his  sleeve,  bare  to  a  death  wound  even 
from  a  rusty  nail  or  the  claw  of  a  cat.  The  worst  patients  brought 
into  the  metropolitan  hospitals  are  those  apparently  fine  models  of 
health,  strength  and  soundness,  the  London  draymen.  It  appears 
that  when  one  of  these  receives  a  serious  injury  it  is  always  necessary 
to  amputate  in  order  to  give  the  patient  the  most  distant  chance  of 
life.  The  draymen  have  the  unlimited  privilege  of  the  brewer's 
cellar.  Sir  Astley  Cooper  on  one  occasion  was  called  to  a  drayman,  a 
powerful,  fresh  colored,  healthy  looking  man,  who  had  suffered  an 


226         ARE  THESE  FIT  BEVERAGES? 

What  are  intoxicating  liquors  ?  They  are  liquors 
containing  poison  not  merely,  but  containing  it  in 
quantity  and  intensity  sufficient  to  disturb  the  healthy 
action  of  the  system  when  used  as  a  beverage,  and 
were  they  not  so,  they  would  not  be  intoxicating. 
And  are  such  liquors  fit  for  use  ? 

The  Providence  of  God  has  answered  this  interro 
gation,  which  answer  is  conveyed  in  ruins,  stamped  by 
his  appointment,  from  its  first  inception  to  its  final 
consummation,  on  the  whole  living  human  organism. 
I  say  human  organism,  for  of  all  God's  creatures 
having  organs,  man  alone  is  chargeable  with  the 
folly,  I  had  almost  said  the  madness,  of  making  use 
of  poison  as  a  beverage.  On  man's  whole  organism, 
therefore,  is  the  influence  of  that  poison  stamped — • 
on  the  brain,  the  heart,  the  lungs,  the  stomach,  the 
viscera,  nay  not  on  these  only,  but  also  on  the  intel 
lect,  the  passions,  the  moral  sense,  on  the  whole 
man  in  both  natures,  corrupting  the  body  in  anticipa 
tion  of  the  sepulchre,  and  effacing  the  image  of  God 
from  the  soul. 

And  can  liquors  which  produce  such  ruins  be  a 
beverage  fit  for  man  ?  fit  to  be  placed  on  the  side- 
injury  in  his  finger  from  a  small  splinter  of  a  stave.  Suppuration 
had  taken  place  in  the  wound,  which  appeared  but  of  a  trifling 
description.  This  distinguished  surgeon  as  usual  opened  the  small 
abscess  with  his  lancet.  Upon  retiring,  however,  he  ascertained  that 
he  had  forgotten  his  lancet  case.  Returning  to  recover  it,  he  found 
his  patient  in  a  dying  state.  In  a  few  minutes,  or  at  most  a  few 
hours,  the  unfortunate  man  was  a  corpse.  Every  medical  man  in 
London,  concludes  the  writer  of  this  statement,  above  all  things 
dreads  a  beer  drinker  for  his  patient  in  a  surgical  case. 


TOUCH  NOT TASTE  NOT HANDLE  NOT.   227 

board,  and  on  the  table  in  private  families,  to  be 
provided  for  guests  in  the  retirements  of  friendship, 
and  spread  out  before  the  eye  and  proffered  to  the 
taste  of  youth,  at  New  Year's  salutations,  on  public 
occasions,  and  in  promiscuous  assemblies  ? 

0  that  I  could  present  before  you  the  outer  man, 
scathed  and  blasted,  as  it  stands  forth  in  real  life, 
bearing  on  every  fibre,  and  on  every  feature,  that 
loathsome,  leprous,  vinous  impress,  of  which  those 
dark,  dismal  lines  traced  on  canvass,  about  to  be  exhi 
bited  to-night,  are  merely  symbols. 

0  that  I  could  present  before  you  the  inner  man, 
still  more  scathed  and  blasted,  bearing  on  every 
attribute  and  element  of  its  immortal  nature  that 
same  loathsome,  leprous,  vinous  impress,  but  in  color 
ing  so  horrible,  that  no  lines  ever  drawn  on  canvass, 
however  dark,  can  become  an  appropriate  symbol 
thereof. 

Could  I  do  this,  I  would  not  ask,  nor  attempt  to 
return  an  answer  to  the  question,  whether  such 
liquors  — liquors  which  enervate  and  disease  the  body, 
degrade  and  defile  the  soul,  were  a  beverage  fit  for 
immortal,  heaven-descended,  heaven-aspiring  man  to 
drink  of. 

Nor  would  it  be  needful  that  I  should  do  so.  In 
that  array  of  guilt  and  misery,  with  which  these 
poisons  have  filled  our  world,  there  is  a  tongue  that 
speaks,  and  speaks  for  God,  and  its  language  is  (as  I 
have  before  said)  to  you,  to  me,  to  all,  touch  not, 
taste  not,  handle  not. 


223         REVELATION  AND  NATURE. 

That  voice  not  only  speaks  for  God,  but  it  is  God's 
voice  that  speaks.  Yes,  throughout  the  whole  of 
nature,  God's  voice  is  heard.  It  is  heard  in  the  ocean's 
roar,  the  tempest's  howl,  and  in  the  mutterings  of 
thunder.  Aye,  it  is  heard,  too,  in  the  murmer  of  the 
rill,  the  rustle  of  the  leaf,  the  whisper  of  the  breeze, 
and  in  that  deeper  stillness  in  which  no  breeze  whis 
pers,  nor  leaf  rustles ;  the  temple  of  nature  is  God's 
temple,  and  throughout  all  its  chambers  he  is  present, 
is  heard,  is  seen,  is  felt.  He  it  is  that  "  warms  in  the 
sun,  refreshes  in  the  breeze." 

Think  not  that  God  is  heard  only  in  the  book  of 
revelation.  The  book  of  nature,  as  well  as  the  book 
of  revelation,  is  a  book  of  God.  Both  were  written 
by  him,  and  hence  David  bound  them  up  together, 
and  in  the  19th  Psalm  you  will  find  a  summary  of 
both. 

"  The  heavens,"  saith  he,  "  the  heavens  declare  the 
glory  of  God,"  and  having  said  this,  he  adds  in  un 
broken  continuity,  "the  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect, 
converting  the  soul." 

These  two  books,  which  David  more  than  thirty 
centuries  since  bound  up  together,  have  not  yet  been 
separated,  and  are  both,  with  reverence,  now,  as  for 
merly,  to  be  consulted;  and  both,  consulted  on  the 
question  now  at  issue,  return  the  same  answer.  It  is 
the  book  of  nature,  however,  with  which  chiefly  we 
are  now  concerned.  Let  us  examine  its  contents. 
Let  us  obey  its  teachings. 

Whatever  obscurity  there  may  be  elsewhere,  here 
there  is  no  obscurity ;  here  there  are  no  opposing 


TEMPERATE   USE    IMPOSSIBLE.  229 

phenomena  to  explain — no  contradictory  testimony  to 
reconcile.  After  a  lapse  of  six  thousand  years,  the 
original  law  of  God,  concerning  intoxicating  poisons, 
with  its  awful  and  unchanged  penalty,  stands  out  to 
view,  written,  on  the  living  organism  of  those  who 
drink  it,  in  characters  so  broad  and  bold,  and  plain, 
that  he  who  runs  may  read. 

In  view  of  this  recorded  prohibition  of  those 
poisons,  talk  not  of  temperate  use  ;  such  use  belongs 
to  authorized  healthful  beverage — to  water,  milk  and 
wine ;  I  mean  good,  refreshing  wine,  such  as  might 
have  been  drank  in  Palestine,  such  as  was  drank 
at  Cana  ;  even  such  wines,  when  used,  are  to  be  used 
temperately ;  and  there  may  be  times,  and  I  think 
the  present  is  such  a  time,  when  from  motives  of 
humanity  as  well  as  religion  their  use  should  be  dis 
pensed  with. 

But  poisonous  beverage,  even  poisonous  wine,  wine 
that  intoxicates,  wine  the  mocker;  that  serpent's 
tooth,  that  adder's  sting,  against  which  the  book  of 
revelation  warns,  and  to  which  warning  the  book  of 
nature  in  accents  long  and  loud  responds ;  of  such 
wine  there  is  no  temperate  use.  Such  wine  is  poison 
ous,  and  is  therefore  to  be  everywhere  and  at  all 
times  utterly  rejected.  The  chalice  that  contains  it, 
contains  an  element  of  death.  It  is  not  even  to  be 
received,  or,  having  been  received,  is  to  be  rejected  ; 
and  happy  the  youth — the  man — who  dashes  it 
untasted  from  his  hand. 

This  is  not  declamation — it  is  not  the  speaker,  but 
thy  Maker,  hearer,  that  counsels  thus.  That  counsel, 
NOTT.  20 


230          THE    STOMACH   IN   ITS   HEALTHY   STATE. 

as  we  have  said,  is  made  apparent  in  ruins  stamped 
by  the  ordination  of  Jehovah  in  every  age,  in  every 
clime,  and  on  every  organ  of  every  human  being  who 
transgresses  his  published  law  in  regard  to  poisons. 
Yes,  in  ruins,  stamped  from  their  first  inception  in  the 
moderate  drinker,  to  their  final  consummation  in  the 
death  of  the  drunkard  by  delirium  tremens. 

The  shadowing  forth  of  these  ruins,  as  seen  in  a 
single  organ,  transferred  by  the  pencil  from  the  dis 
secting-room  of  the  surgeon*  to  the  canvass  of  the 
painter,  I  shall  now  proceed  to  exhibit  and  very 
briefly  to  illustrate. 

The  organ  in  question  is  the  human  stomach,  with 
its  triple  coatings,  with  its  inlet  for  food,  its  outlet  for 
chyme,  its  mysterious  solvent  for  converting  the 
former  into  the  latter,  and  its  contractile  power  for 
transmitting  the  same  ( when  so  converted )  through 
other  viscera,  to  be  absorbed  in  the  repairing  of 
the  wastes  of  an  ever-perishing  and  renovated 
organism. 

Fig.  I  represents  the  inner  surface  of  this  organ, 
exposed  to  view  in  its  natural  and  healthy  state — the 
state  in  which  it  was  created,  and  in  which  it  would 
ordinarily  continue  through  life,  but  for  those  ele 
ments  of  ruin  with  which,  by  the  indiscretion  of 
man,  it  is  so  early  and  often  brought  in  contact. t 


*  Dr.  Thomas  Sewal. 

f  When  this  lecture  was  delivered,  Dr.  Sewal's  drawings  of  the 
human  stomach  were  exhibited,  and  the  text  is  the  explanation  of 
them  severally,  as  then  given. 


TEMPERATE   AND    HABITUAL   DRUNKARDS.       231 

Fig.  II  represents  the  changed  aspect  of  this  same 
organ,  as  it  appears  in  the  person  of  the  temperate 
drinker.  You  perceive  how  that  delicate  and  beauti 
ful  net-work  of  blood-vessels,  almost  invisible  in  the 
healthy  stomach,  begins  to  be  enlarged — how  the 
whole  interior  surface,  irritated  and  inflamed,  exhibits 
the  inception  of  that  progressive  work  of  death  about 
to  be  accomplished. 

This  change  is  effected  by  a  well  known  law  of 
nature,  to  wit,  the  rushing  of  the  blood  to  any  part 
of  a  sensitive  texture  to  which  any  irritant  is  applied. 
You  know  what  is  the  effect  produced  by  even  diluted 
alcohol  when  applied  to  the  eye ;  you  know  what 
the  effect  is,  of  holding  even  undiluted  brandy  in  the 
mouth ;  what,  then,  must  be  the  effect  of  pouring 
such  an  exciting  and  corrosive  poison  into  that  deli 
cate  and  vital  organ,  the  human  stomach  ? 

Fig.  Ill  represents  the  stomach  of  the  habitual 
drunkard,  with  its  thickened  walls,  its  distended 
blood-vessels,  and  its  livid  blotches,  visible  at  irregular 
intervals  to  the  eye,  like  the  unsightly  rum  blossoms 
that  overspread  the  countenance,  in  token  of  the 
havoc  which  disease,  unseen,  is  making  with  the 
viscera  within. 

Fig.  IV  exhibits  the  ulcerated  stomach  of  the  habi 
tual  drunkard — with  its  loathsome,  corroding  sores, 
eating  their  way  through  its  triple  lining,  and  gra 
dually  extending  over  the  intervening  spaces :  all 
bespeaking  the  extent  of  the  hidden  desolation  which 
has  already  been  effected. 


232  CANCEROUS    STOMACH. 

Fig.  V  represents  the  frightful  stomach  of  the  habi 
tual  drunkard,  rendered  still  more  frightful  by  the 
aggravation  of  a  recent  debauch.  Its  previously  in 
flamed  surface  has  become  still  more  inflamed,  and 
its  livid  blotches  still  more  livid.  Grumous  blood 
is  issuing  from  its  pores,  and  its  whole  putrid  aspect 
indicates  that  the  work  of  death  is  nearly  consum 
mated. 

Fig.  VI  represents  the  cancerous  stomach  of  the 
drunkard,  or  rather  a  cancerous  ulcer  in  such  a  sto 
mach,  the  coats  of  which  stomach,  as  the  surgeon  who 
performed  the  dissection  affirms,  were  thickened,  and 
schirrous,  and  its  passages  so  obstructed  as  to  prevent 
for  some  time  previous  to  death  the  transmission  of 
any  nutriment  to  the  system. 

Fig.  VII  represents  a  stomach  in  which  this  pro 
gressive  desolation  is  completed — it  is  the  stomach 
of  the  maniac,  the  drunken  maniac — as  seen  after 
death  by  delirium  tremens,  than  which  there  is  no 
death  more  dreadful,  —  signalized  as  it  ever  is  by 
unearthly  spectres,  hydras  and  demons  dire. 

It  may  have  been  the  lot  of  some  of  you  to  have 
witnessed  such  a  death  scene ;  if  it  has,  you  will 
bear  me  out  in  saying  that  no  language  can  express 
its  horrors. 

The  following  lines  convey  but  a  faint  idea  of  the 
frightful  ravings  of  a  poor  inebriate  who  died  of  deli 
rium  tremens  in  an  asylum  to  which  he  had  been 
removed,  and  who,  amazed  at  the  situation  in  which 
he  found  himself  placed,  conceived  the  idea  that, 
though  sane  himself,  the  friends  who  had  placed  him 


RAVINGS   OF   THE    INEBRIATE.  233 

there  were  deranged.  Excited  to  phrenzy  and  haunted 
by  this  illusion — 

Why  am  I  thus,  the  maniac  cried, 

Confined,  'mid  crazy  people  1     Why  7 
I  am  not  mad  —  knave,  stand  aside ! 

I'll  have  my  freedom,  or  I'll  die. 
It's  not  for  cure  that  here  I've  come  — 
I  tell  thee,  all  I  want  is  rum  — 
I  must  have  rum. 

Sane  1  yes,  and  have  been  all  the  while ; 

Why,  then,  tormented  thus  7    'Tis  sad ! 
Why  chained,  and  held  in  duress  vile  7 

The  men  who  brought  me  here  were  mad. 
I  will  not  stay  where  spectres  come  — 
Let  me  go  hence ;  I  must  have  rum, 
I  must  have  rum. 

'Tis  he !  'tis  he !  my  aged  sire ! 

What  has  disturbed  thee  in  thy  grave  7 
Why  bend  on  me  that  eye  of  fire  1 

Why  torment,  since  thou  canst  not  save  7 
Back  to  the  churchyard  whence  you've  come ! 
Return,  return !  but  send  me  rum, 
0 !  send  me  rum. 

Why  is  my  mother  musing  there, 

On  that  same  consecrated  spot 
Where  once  she  taught  me  words  of  prayer  * 

But  now  she  hears  —  she  heeds  me  not. 
Mute  in  her  winding  sheet  she  stands  — 
Cold,  cold,  I  feel  her  icy  hands  — 
Her  icy  hands ! 

She's  vanished ;  but  a  dearer  friend — 

I  know  her  by  her  angel  smile  — 
Has  come  her  partner  to  attend, 

His  hours  of  misery  to  beguile ; 
Haste !  haste !  loved  one,  and  set  me  free ; 
'Twere  heaven  to  'scape  from  hence  to  thee, 

From  hence  to  thee. 
NOTT.  *20 


234  RAVINGS   OF   THE   INEBRIATE. 

She  does  not  hear  —  away  she  flies, 

Regardless  of  the  chain  I  wear, 
Back  to  her  mansion  in  the  skies, 

To  dwell  with  kindred  spirits  there. 
Why  has  she  gone  1     Why  did  she  come  1 
0  God,  I'm  ruined !     Give  me  rum, 
0 !  give  me  rum. 

Hark !  hark !  for  bread  my  children  cry  — 

A  cry  that  drinks  my  spirits  up ; 
But  'tis  in  vain,  in  vain  to  try  — 

0  give  me  back  the  drunkard's  cup : 
My  lips  are  parched,  my  heart  is  sad  — 
This  cursed  chain !  'twill  make  me  mad ! 
'Twill  make  me  mad ! 

It  wont  wash  out,  that  crimson  stain ! 

I've  scoured  those  spots,  and  made  them  white  • 
Blood  reappears  again, 

Soon  as  morning  brings  the  light ! 
When  from  my  sleepless  couch  I  come, 

To  see  —  to  feel 0  !  give  me  rum, 

I  must  have  rum. 

'Twas  there  I  heard  his  piteous  cry, 

And  saw  his  last  imploring  look, 
But  steeled  my  heart,  and  bade  him  die  — 

Then  from  him  golden  treasures  took: 
Accursed  treasure  —  stinted  sum — 
Reward  of  guilt !    Give  —  give  me  ram, 
0 !  give  me  rum. 

Hark !  still  I  hear  that  piteous  wail — 
Before  my  eyes  his  spectre  stands, 

And  when  it  frowns  on  me,  I  quail ; 
0  !  I  would  fly  to  other  lands ! 

But,  that  pursuing,  there  'twould  come  — 
There's  no  escape !     0 !  give  me  rum, 
0 '  give  me  rum. 


SAVINGS   OF   THE   INEBRIATE.  235 

Guard  !  guard  those  windows  —  bar  that  door  — 

Yonder  I  armed  bandits  see ; 
They've  robbed  my  house  of  all  its  store, 

And  now  return  to  murder  me ; 
They're  breaking  in,  don't  let  them  come; 
Drive  —  drive  them  hence  —  but  give  me  rum 

0  !  give  me  rum. 

I  stake  again  7  not  I !  —  no  more, 

Heartless,  accursed  gamester !    No ! 
I  staked  with  thee  my  all,  before, 

And  from  thy  den  a  beggar  go. 
Go  where  1     A  suicide  to  hell ! 

And  leave  my  orphan  children  here, 
In  rags  and  wretchedness  to  dwell  — 

A  doom  their  father  cannot  bear. 

Will  no  one  pity  1  no  one  come  7  — 

Not  thou !     0  come  not,  man  of  prayer  ! 
Shut  that  dread  volume  in  thy  hand  — 

For  me  damnation's  written  there  — 
No  drunkard  can  in  judgment  stand! 

Talk  not  of  pardon  there  revealed  — 

No,  not  to  me — it  is  too  late  — 
My  sentence  is  already  sealed ; 

Tears  never  blot  the  book  of  fate. 
Too  late !  too  late  these  tidings  come ; 
There  is  no  hope !     0  give  me  rum, 

1  must  have  rum. 

Thou  painted  harlot,  come  not  here ! 

I  know  thee  by  that  lecherous  look  — 
I  know  that  silvery  voice  I  hear  — 

Go  home,  and  read  God's  holy  book. 
For  thee  there's  mercy — not  for  me ; 

I'm  damned  already  —  words  can't  tell 
What  sounds  I  hear,  what  sights  I  see ! 

I'm  sure  it  can't  be  worse  in  hell ! 


236  RAVINGS   OF  THE   INEBRIATE. 

See  how  that  rug  those  reptiles  soil ! 

They're  crawling  o'er  me  in  my  bed  ! 
I  feel  their  clammy,  snaky  coil 

On  every  limb  —  around  my  head  — 
With  forked  tongue  I  see  them  play ; 
I  hear  them  hiss  —  tear  them  away ! 
Tear  them  away ! 

A  fiend !  a  fiend !  with  many  a  dart, 

Glares  on  me  with  his  bloodshot  eye, 
And  aims  his  missiles  at  my  heart — 

0  !  whither,  whither  shall  I  fly  1 
Fly  1  no !  it  Is  no  time  for  flight ! 

1  know  thy  hellish  purpose  well  — 
Avaunt,  avaunt,  thou  hated  sprite, 

And  hie  thee  to  thy  native  hell ! 

He's  gone !  he's  gone !  and  I  am  free ; 

He's  gone,  the  faithless  braggart  liar  — 
He  said  he'd  come  to  summon  me  — 

See  there  again  —  my  bed's  on  fire  ! 
Fire !  water !  help !  0  haste !  I  die ! 

The  flames  are  kindling  round  my  head ! 
This  smoke !  I'm  strangling !  cannot  fly  — 

0 !  snatch  me  from  this  burning  bed ! 

There!  there  again — that  demon's  there, 
Crouching  to  make  a  fresh  attack ! 

See  how  his  flaming  eye-balls  glare  — 
Thou  fiend  of  fiends,  what's  brought  thee  back  7 

Back  in  thy  car  7    For  whom  1    For  where  1 
He  smiles  —  he  beckons  me  to  come  — 

What  are  those  words  thou'st  written  there  7 

"IN   HELL   THEY   NEVER   WANT   FOR   RUM!"* 

In  hell  they  never  want  for  rum. 
Not  want  for  rum !    Read  that  again  — 

I  feel  the  spell !  haste,  drive  me  down 
Where  rum  is  free !  where  revelers  reign, 

And  I  can  wear  the  drunkard's  crown. 

*  The  rum  maniac  varied. 


RAVINGS   OF   THE   INEBRIATE.  237 

Accept  thy  proffer,  fiend  1    I  will, 

And  to  thy  drunken  banquet  come ; 
Fill  the  great  cauldron  from  thy  still 

With  boiling,  burning,  fiery  rum  — 
There  will  I  quench  this  horrid  thirst ! 

With  boon  companions  drink  and  dwell, 
Nor  plead  for  rum,  as  here  I  must  — 

There's  liberty  to  drink  in  hell. 

Thus  raved  that  maniac  rum  had  made  — 

Then  starting  from  his  haunted  bed  — 
On,  on,  ye  demons,  on !  he  said, 

Then  silent  sunk  —  his  soul  had  fled. 

Scoffer  beware  !  he  in  that  shroud 

Was  once  a  temperate  drinker  too, 
And  felt  as  safe  —  declaimed  as  loud 

Against  extravagance,  as  you. 

And  yet  ere  long  I  saw  him  stand 

Refusing,  on  the  brink  of  hell, 
A  pardon  from  his  Savior's  hand, 

Then  plunging  down  with  fiends  to  dwell. 

From  thence,  methinks,  I  hear  him  say, 

Dash,  dash  the  chalice,  break  the  spell, 
Stop  while  you  can,  and  where  you  may  — 

There's  no  escape  when  once  in  hell. 

0  God,  thy  gracious  spirit  send, 

That  we,  the  mocker's  snare  may  fly, 
And  thus  escape  that  dreadful  end, 

That  death  eternal,  drunkards  die. 


LECTURE  No.  X. 


THE  TRAFFIC— APPEAL  TO  DEALERS. 

The  injurious  effect  of  abandoning  the  liquor  trade  considered  —  The 
expedient  of  total  abstinence  —  The  manner  in  which  it  should  be 
enforced — an  appeal  to  dealers. 

BUT  would  not  the  abandonment  of  intoxicating  liquors, 
could  the  community  be  induced  to  abandon  them,  throw 
many  an  industrious  individual  out  of  employment,  and 
deprive  many  a  needy  family  of  bread  ?  I  admit  for  a 
short  time,  and  to  a  considerable  extent,  this  would 
be  the  case :  and  I  also  admit  that  this  is  a  circum 
stance  that  deserves  to  be  considered,  and  that,  where 
kindness  dwells,  cannot  fail  to  be  regretted. 

Some  indeed  there  are  who  seem  to  think  and 
speak  of  those  engaged  in  the  manufacture  and  sale 
of  intoxicating  liquors  as  mere  wretches,  infamous 
alike  in  person  and  in  occupation,  whose  feelings  and 
whose  wants  were  not  deserving  of  regard  but  I  do 
not  so  estimate  character,  nor  have  I  thus  learned 
Christ. 

It  is  not  ours  to  sit  in  judgment  on  our  brethren. 
We  see  the  outward  appearance,  God  alone  seeth  the 
heart.  I  have  known  and  still  know  men  of  talents 
and  integrity,  and  so  far  as  man  can  judge,  of  religion 


THE   DOOM   OF   DRUNKENNESS   IS    SETTLED.      239 

too,  who  have  long  been  engaged,  and  who  are  still 
engaged  in  these  (to  me)  abhorred  occupations  :  but 
I  know  also  and  rejoice  to  know  that  as  information 
reaches  and  light  breaks  in  upon  their  minds,  one  after 
another  of  their  number  is  led  first  to  doubt,  then  to 
disbelieve  the  innocence  of  his  occupation,  and  then 
forever  to  abjure  it. 

This  change  of  opinion  and  of  practice  in  relation 
to  the  manufacture  and  sale  as  well  as  use  of  intoxica 
ting  liquors,  is  still  progressive,  and  it  will  continue 
to  progress ;  others,  and  yet  others,  and  yet  others, 
instructed  by  the  counsel  and  moved  by  the  example 
of  their  brethren,  will  be  induced  to  practice  the  same 
self-denials,  and  make  the  same  sacrifices,  until  neither 
drunkard,  nor  vender  of  the  drunkard's  drink,  shall 
remain  within  the  limits  of  a  purified  and  reclaimed 
city.  Nor  within  its  limits  only  ;  for  the  entire  race 
are  destined  to  experience  a  moral  renovation,  and 
the  earth  which  man  inhabits,  to  become  covered  with 
works  of  righteousness,  as  well  as  filled  with  the 
knowledge  of  God. 

The  doom  of  drunkenness,  as  well  as  of  oppression 
and  every  other  vice,  is  settled — settled  in  the  coun 
cils  of  that  Godhead  who  has  declared,  from  his 
throne  of  mercy,  that  virtue  shall  prevail,  and 
crime  of  every  name  and  nature  cease  from  off  a 
ransomed,  disinthralled  planet.  Already  from  that 
throne  of  mercy  a  redeeming  spirit  has  been  sent 
abroad  among  the  nations,  which  begins  to  be  appa 
rent  in  their  quickened  moral  feeling  and  onward 
moral  movement.  The  conscience  of  the  wTorld 


240        THE  PROMISE  OF  THE  FUTURE. 

begins  to  be  enlightened  and  turned  towards  the  pre 
vailing  sin  of  drunkenness — the  source  and  centre 
from  which  so  many  other  sins  are  sent  abroad  over 
the  face  of  the  whole  earth.  If  there  be  encourage 
ment  in  the  indications  of  Providence,  or  hope  in  the 
predictions  of  prophecy,  this  frightful  abuse  of  the 
products  of  the  harvest  field  and  the  vineyard,  so 
wantonly  manifested  in  the  manufacture  and  sale  and 
use  of  intoxicating  liquors,  must  be  corrected,  and  it 
will  be  corrected,  or  the  glory  of  this  republic  will 
depart  not  only — but  the  progress  of  civilization  be 
arrested  also,  and  even  the  chariot  wheels  of  the  Son 
of  God  be  rolled  back. 

Let  us  then,  cheered  by  the  successes  of  the  past, 
and  encouraged  by  the  promise  of  the  future,  urge 
forward,  with  renewed  energy,  our  work  of  mercy. 

There  was  a  time  when  the  whole  Christian  church 
could  be  congregated  in  an  inner  chamber  at  Jerusa 
lem.  Now  its  numbers,  reckoned  by  millions,  are 
spread  abroad  over  continents  and  islands.  Within 
even  our  own  recollection,  the  same  inner  chamber 
would  have  contained  all  the  advocates  of  total  absti 
nence  in  Christendom.  Now  their  number  too  is 
reckoned  by  millions,  and  their  influence  is  felt  by  the 
inhabitants  of  many  a  kingdom,  and  the  seamen  that 
navigate  the  waters  of  many  a  sea. 

During  the  ages  gone  by,  the  ruinous,  loathsome 
and  brutalizing  effects  of  intemperance  were  exten 
sively  experienced  and  deplored  and  counteracted. 
Governments  legislated,  moralists  reasoned,  Christians 
remonstrated,  but  to  no  purpose.  In  the  face  of  all 


THE    GREAT    DISCOVERY.  241 

this  array  of  influence,  intemperance  not  only  main 
tained  its  ground,  but  constantly  advanced  ;  and  ad 
vanced  with  constantly  increasing  rapidity.  Death 
indeed  came  in  aid  of  the  cause  of  temperance,  and 
swept  away,  especially  during  the  prevalence  of  the 
cholera,  crowds  of  inebriates,  with  a  distinctive  and 
exemplary  vengeance.  Suddenly  the  vacancies  thus 
occasioned  were  filled  up  ;  and,  as  if  the  course  of  life 
whence  these  supplies  were  furnished  was  exhaustless, 
all  the  avenues  of  death  were  not  only  reoccupied  but 
crowded  with  augmented  numbers  of  fresh  recruits. 
The  hope  even  of  reclaiming  the  world  by  any 
instrumentalities  then  in  being,  departed,  and  fear  lest 
Christendom  should  be  utterly  despoiled  by  so  detest 
able  a  practice,  took  possession  of  many  a  reflecting 
mind. 

In  that  dark  hour,  the  great  discovery,  THAT 
DRUNKENNESS  is  CAUSED  BY  DRINKING  ;  moderate,  tem 
perate,  continuous  drinking  ;  and  that  entire  sobriety 
can  be  restored  and  maintained  by  ABSTINENCE  :  in 
that  dark  hour,  this  GREAT  DISCOVERY  was  made  and 
promulgated  to  the  world.  A  discovery  which,  simple 
and  obvious  as  it  seems  to  be,  had  remained  hid  for 
ages — during  which  no  one  dreamed  that  mere  drink 
ing,  regular,  reputable,  temperate  drinking,  injured 
any  one  ;  much  less  that  it  produced,  and  by  a  neces 
sity  of  nature  produced,  that  utter  shameless  drunken 
ness  which  debased  so  many  individuals,  beggared  so 
many  families,  and  brought  such  indelible  disgrace  on 
community  itself.  This  discovery,  though  not  even 
yet  generally  known  throughout  community,  has 

NOTT.  21 


212  CAUSE    AXD    EFFECT. 

relieved  more  misery,  conduced  to  more  happiness, 
prompted  to  more  virtue,  and  reclaimed  from  more 
guilt ;  in  one  word,  it  has  already  shed  more  blessings 
on  the  past,  and  lit  up  more  hope  for  the  future,  than 
any  other  discovery,  whether  physical,  political  or 
moral,  with  which  the  land  and  the  age  in  which  we 
live  have  been  signalized. 

By  this  great  discovery  it  has  been  made  apparent 
that  it  is  not  drunkards,  but  moderate  drinkers  with 
whom  the  temperance  reformation  is  chiefly  concerned; 
for  it  is  not  on  a  change  of  habits  in  the  former,  but 
the  latter,  on  which  the  destiny  of  the  state  and  the 
nation  hangs  suspended. 

Drinking,  and  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  that 
which  makes  drunkards,  operates  reciprocally  as  cause 
and  effect  on  all  the  parties  concerned. 

The  manufacturer  and  vender  furnish  the  temptation 
to  the  drinker,  and  the  drinker  in  return  gives  coun 
tenance  and  support  both  to  the  manufacturer  and 
the  vender. 

All  these  classes  must  be  reformed  before  the 
triumph  of  the  temperance  cause  will  be  complete ; 
and  the  reformation  of  either  contributes  to  the  re 
formation  of  all.  Every  dram  shop  that  is  closed  nar 
rows  the  sphere  of  temptation,  and  every  teetotaler 
that  is  gained  contributes  to  the  shutting  up  of  a  dram 
shop.  And  they  must  all  be  shut  up,  the  rum  and  the 
wine  and  the  beer  selling  grocery,  and  temperate 
drinking  relinquished,  or  drunkenness  can  never  be 
prevented,  society  purified  from  crime,  relieved  from 


PHYSICAL    FOECE    VAIN.  243 

pauperism,  freed  from  disease,  and  human  life  extended 
to  its  allowed  limits. 

But  how  can  this  be  effected,  how  can  the  prejudices 
of  whole  classes  of  community  be  overcome,  and  the 
very  habits  of  masses  of  men  changed  ?  How  have 
those  mighty  changes,  even  national  changes,  else 
where  and  in  former  ages,  been  brought  about?* 
How  ?  sometimes  by  appealing  to  physical  force  ;  some 
times  to  wrong,  and  sometimes  to  right  principles  of  volun 
tary  action. 

To  physical  force,  in  the  present  instance,  it  were 
vain  for  us  to  appeal.  There  are  those,  indeed,  who 
have  it  in  their  power  to  answer  by  force,  arguments 
even  that  are  unanswerable  by  argument,  and  who, 
though  unable  to  gain  the  mind  by  persuasion,  can 
crush  the  body  by  violence.  But  thus  it  is  not  with 
the  friends  of  total  abstinence.  We  have  not,  and  it 
is  well  we  have  not,  at  our  disposal,  either  pains  or 
penalties.  We  cannot  even  abridge  the  perfect  free 
dom  of  the  moral  agents  that  surround  us,  perverse 
and  erring  as  in  our  opinion  their  conduct  may  be. 
We  cannot  inhibit  access  either  to  the  side-board  or 
the  rum  jug,  and  thus  render  inebriation  either  to  the 
man  of  fortune,  or  even  the  day  laborer,  physically 
impossible  ;  for  we  can  neither  point  the  bayonet  to 
the  breast  or  apply  the  lash  to  the  back  of  the  refrac 
tory  inebriate.  Ours  is  a  free  country,  and  this  an 


*  Changes  from  barbarism  to  civilization — from  bondage  to  liberty 
— and  in  the  Emerald  Isle,  of  late,  from  riot  to  order — from  inebriety 
to  temperance — how  have  these  changes  been  brought  about  1 


244  TOTAL    ABSTINENCE. 

enlightened  age.  Here  men  will  think  and  speak  and 
act  according  to  their  own  convictions  of  duty ;  and 
they  ought  to  do  so.  Unconvinced,  I  would  not  relin 
quish  the  manufacture,  or  sale,  or  use  of  intoxicating 
liquor  at  the  bidding  of  another ;  and  I  have  no  right 
to  require  that  another  should  do  this  at  my  own  bid 
ding,  and  though  I  had,  I  could  not  by  any  pains  or 
penalties  at  my  command  enforce  that  right.  Com 
pulsion  then  is  out  of  the  question.* 


*  The  author  of  course  means  "compulsion"  by  individuals,  or 
temperance  societies,  and  not  compulsion  by  the  law-making  power 
of  the  state.  No  part  of  this  lecture  can  justly  be  quoted  against  pro 
hibitory  legislation.  It  was  written  before  that  great  device,  "  The 
Maine  Law,"  was  advocated,  or  thought  necessary  to  the  success  of 
temperance.  When  the  author  says  he  would  not  relinquish  the 
manufacture  or  sale  of  liquor  "  at  the  bidding  of  another,"  he  cer 
tainly  does  not  mean  that  he  would  not  do  so,  if  he  was  so  bidden  by 
the  officers  of  the  law. 

To  the  above  we  add:  The  liquor  traffic  is  not,  and  its  public 
repute  is  not,  what  it  was  when  this  lecture  was  written.  The  liquor 
has  grown  worse,  and  the  character  of  the  vendors  has  grown  worse. 
As  the  pernicious  effects  of  the  traffic  have  been  made  apparent,  one 
after  another  of  the  better  class  of  persons  who  used  to  sell  liquor 
( the  most  virtuous  of  men  once  engaged  in  it  without  scruple  )  have 
abandoned  it,  until  it  is  now  in  the  hands  of  persons,  but  a  small 
proportion  of  whom  were  born  in  the  midst  of  the  temperance  agita 
tion.  Of  seven  hundred  and  seventy-five  liquor  sellers  in  Albany 
(  see  the  Prohibitionist  for  March,  1856),  it  was  found  that  less  than 
one  hundred  were  born  in  America ;  all  the  rest  being  foreign  emi 
grants.  Of  all  who  were  convicted  of  selling  liquor  contrary  to  the 
prohibitory  law,  in  the  city  of  Portland,  Maine,  not  one,  it  is  said, 
was  born  in  the  United  States.  And  so  it  will  be  found  that  the 
grog-shop  system,  as  it  now  exists  in  the  United  States ;  from  dram- 
selling  up  to  the  state  prison  and  the  gallows ;  including  all  its  mon 
strous  brood  of  evils,  in  the  shape  of  Intemperance,  Pauperism  and 


TOTAL    ABSTINENCE.  245 

To    WRONG   PRINCIPLES    OF  VOLUNTARY   ACTION  WC 

may,  and  alas  !  too  often  do  appeal.  But  such  appeal, 


Crime,  —  fully  three-fourths  of  this  whole  grog-shop  system,  consti 
tuting  the  load,  the  oppression,  the  giant  curse  of  the  country,  will 
be  found  to  be  a  foreign  importation.     The  quality  of  these  wares, 
always  bad  and  demoralizing,  has  deteriorated  with  the  character  of 
the  vendors.     Adulterations  are  not  only  not  disguised,  but  they  are 
publicly  advertised  in  the  newspapers.     This  new  rascality  in  science 
is  reduced  to  a  trade,  even  in  the  case  of  what  are  called  the  best  of 
liquors ;    while   the   frauds    in    the   more   common   liquors   are   so 
flagrant  and  fatal,  that  nothing  but  intense  vulgar  avarice  is  visible 
in  the  motive,  and  hardly  anything  short  of  downright  murder  in 
the  result.     The  following  epithets,  not  invented  by  "  Temperance 
fanatics,"  but  by  drinkers  themselves,  are  now  part  of  the  stock 
phrases  of  all  the  bar-rooms  in  the  country:  "Fighting  brandy;" 
"Jersey lightning;"  "Sword-fish;"  "Red-eye;"  "Rot-gut;"  "Blue 
ruin ;"  "  Liquor  that  will  kill  at  forty  paces ;"  and  such  like.     These, 
be  it  noted,  are  a  sample  of  the  dismal  epithets,  which  are  now  used 
in  grim  earnest,  by  habitual  drinkers,  —  a  sort  of  ground  swell  of 
detestation,  from  even  the  best  friends  of  intoxicating  liquors.     And 
public  sentiment,  in  regard  to  the  traffic,  has  kept  pace.     From  being 
thought  to  be  an  indispensable  good,  it  has  come  to  be  regarded  as  at 
best  but  a  necessary  evil.    In  several  states  of  the  American  Union,  also 
in  the  British  Province  of  New  Brunswick,  laws  have  been  enacted 
prohibiting  the  sale  of  liquor  (  for  a  beverage )  entirely*     In  some  of 
these  states,  these  laws  have  been  embarrassed  or  overthrown,  on 
technical  grounds,  by  the  courts;  in  others,  mostly  from  political  and 
party  motives,  they  have  been  repealed.     In  these  states,  in  several 
cases,  some  flagrant  outrage  has  turned  the  point  of  public  endurance. 
The  arm  of  the  municipal  law  withdrawn,  the  great  law  of  self- 
preservation  has  been  applied,  to  stay  the  desolations  of  the  liquor 
traffic ;  and  it  has  been  forcibly  abated,  as  a  public  nuisance,  by  the 
direct  hand  of  the  people. 

In  the  Prohibitionist  for  the  month  of  June,  1857,  will  be  found 

recorded  no  less  than  nineteen  such  cases,  which  have  been  reported 

by  exchanges,  in  less  than  as  many  months.     In  Huron,  in  the  State 

of  Ohio,  the  sudden  death,  by  means  of  the  grog-shops,  of -an  old 

NOTT.  *21 


246  TOTAL    ABSTINENCE. 

by  whomsoever  made,  is  not  in  keeping  with  the  bene 
volence  of  an  enterprise,  which  has  as  its  object  the 


woman,  aroused  public  resentment  to  a  degree  which  was  no  longer 
to  be  restrained.  Some  fifty  women  immediately  armed  themselves 
with  hatchets  and  axes,  proceeded  to  the  places  of  sale,  and  demol 
ished  jugs,  casks  and  demijohns,  and  spilt  every  drop  of  whiskey, 
brandy,  wine  and  beer  they  could  find.  The  same  thing,  pretty 
much,  transpired  at  Wakeman,  in  the  same  state.  Also  in  Lima, 
Salem,  Albany,  Moscow,  Bellvillo  and  Kirkland  —  all  in  the  State  of 
Ohio.  And  so  at  Ellsworth,  in  the  State  of  Maine  ;  at  Rockport,  in 
Massachusetts;  at  Jamestown,  in  New- York;  at  Plattsville,  inWis-' 
consin;  at  Chesterfield,  in  South  Carolina;  and  California,  in  Ken 
tucky.  And  so,  with  circumstances  slightly  different,  at  two  places 
in  Illinois  —  Earlville  and  Hanover.  And  in  Indiana,  three  places  — 
at  Vienna,  Princeton  and  Moorsville.  In  all  these  cases,  the  execu 
tion  of  the  "search,  seizure  and  destruction  clause"  was  done  by 
women.  In  one  case,  by  the  sister  of  a  woman  who  was  made  drunk  ; 
and  in  the  other  cases,  by  companies  of  women,  numbering  from  a 
dozen  to  fifty.  At  Bellville,  the  women  were  tried  for  riot;  they 
were  acquitted  by  the  jury.  At  Wakeman  they  were  also  tried; 
these  were  discharged  by  the  court.  At  Logansport,  in  Indiana,  Mr. 
Wright  ( himself  a  judge  ),  whose  little  boy  had  been  made  drunk  by 
a  liquor  seller,  armed  himself  with  an  axe,  stove  in  the  door  of  the 
groggery,  broke  all  the  bottles  and  spilt  all  the  liquor  he  could  find  ; 
then  put  on  his  Sunday  clothes,  and  went  to  church. 

Such  is  a  specimen  (  for  details,  see  page  41  of  vol.  4  of  the  Pro 
hibitionist  )  of  the  most  noticeable  and  significant  signs  of  the  times. 
For  it  is  not  merely  that  such  things  are  done,  but  that  they  are 
publicly  applauded,  and  approved  of  probably  in  every  case,  by  nine 
persons  out  of  every  ten.  They  show  that  the  liquor  traffic  has 
lost  its  hold  on  public  favor,  and  point  unmistakably  where  the  sympa 
thy  of  the  people  runs;  that  it  is  coming  to  be  very  generally 
regarded  as  a  NUISANCE  —  which  in  truth  it  is,  and  the  greatest  of 
nuisances :  nor  would  it  be  an  extravagance  to  say,  that  it  is  fruitful 
of  more  mischief  than  all  other  nuisances  united. 

Prohibitionists  are  charged  with  being  revolutionary.  But  it  is 
their  opponents  who  are  revolutionary.  The  advocates  of  prohibi- 


TOTAL    ABSTINENCE.  247 

amelioration  of  the  condition,  and  the  elevation  of  the 
character  of  the  beings  on  whose  destiny  it  is  intended 
to  bear. 


tory  liquor  laws,  seek  to  rid  the  community  of  a  vast  and  intolerable 
evil,  by  peaceable  and  lawful  means,  and  which  are  as  old  as  the 
Common  Law.  This  is  reform ;  not  revolution.  But  they  who  seek 
to  protect  and  perpetuate  the  traffic  in  Intoxicating  Liquors  —  to 
keep  so  vast  a  wrong,  and  so  complicated  a  system  of  wrongs,  in  a 
community  of  men  and  women  who  abhor  it,  and  rise  to  cast  it  off,  as 
an  infamy  and  a  scourge  —  the  attempt  to  keep  society  where  it  is, 
when  its  first  and  strongest  instincts  compel  it  to  a  point  beyond  — 
this  is  revolution,  and  the  most  unnatural  and  violent  kind  of  revo 
lution. 

Eleven  years  ago,  we  knew  a  student,  at  Union  College,  who  sent  a 
copy  of  these  Lectures  to  his  father,  who  was  then  engaged  in  liquor 
selling.  He  soon  sent  back  word  that  he  had  read  them,  and  was 
about  to  employ  his  capital  in  other  business.  Doubtless  there  are 
some  such  persons  still  remaining  in  the  trade,  whose  hearts  and  con 
sciences,  if  this  volume  were  sent  to  them,  would  be  similarly  touched. 
"We  should  be  glad  to  have  the  experiment  tried  in  the  case  of  all  the 
two  hundred  or  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  liquor  sellers  in 
the  United  States. 

If  anything  in  the  way  of  "  moral  suasion  "  can  affect  the  hearts 
of  the  men  who  still  deal  in  intoxicating  liquors,  it  will  be  these 
powerful  and  searching  appeals  by  Dr.  Nott.  For  he  seems  to 
exhaust  all  the  arts,  not  only  of  the  orator,  but  the  Christian  orator. 
But  it  must  not  escape  our  notice,  that  all  these  same  appliances, 
uniting  the  skill  of  the  rhetorician  and  the  zeal  of  the  missionary,  are 
equally  proper  to  be  used,  and  ought  to  be  used,  with  the  counter 
feiter  and  the  forger,  the  keeper  of  gambling-houses,  and  the  horse 
thief.  But  while  these  pious  efforts  on  the  part  of  individuals  can 
not  be  too  much  applauded,  society  at  large  does  not  wait,  and  cannot 
wait,  until  these  wrong-doers  are  personally  reclaimed.  The  pains 
and  the  penalties  of  the  prohibitory  laws  are  resorted  to  in  the  case 
of  lesser  evils  than  liquor-selling ;  and  government  cannot  refuse  to 
employ  them  in  the  case  of  the  greater,  without  abandoning  its  pri- 


248  TOTAL    ABSTINENCE. 

Before  the  eye  of  the  philanthropist  there  is  spread 
out  one  vast  field  of  crime  and  misery,  the  admitted 
consequence  of  inebriation  ;  deliberate,  customary,  I 
had  almost  said  fashionable  inebriation.  Evils  so 
appalling  require  the  immediate  universal  application 
of  that  only  remedy. 

TOTAL  ABSTINENCE. 

But  be  it  remembered  that  they  alone  who  can  apply 
this  remedy  are  free,  untrammeled,  intelligent,  moral 
agents ;  as  such  agents  they  must  be  addressed ; 


mary  functions,   and  resigning  all  pretensions  to  maintain  social 
security. 

To  prove  conclusively,  that  the  author  would  not  have  any  part  of 
these  Lectures  quoted  against  the  agitation  for  legislative  prohibition, 
we  close  this  note  by  quoting  the  following  passage  from  an  address 
delivered  by  the  author,  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  New- York 
State  Temperance  Society  in  Albany,  on  the  18th  of  January,  1856 : 
1 '  It  is  in  these  public  and  long-established  rendezvous  of  vice  that 
the  occasion  is  furnished  and  the  temptation  presented ;  here  the 
elements  of  death  are  collected,  here  are  mingled,  and  here  the 
fatal  chalice  that  contains  them  is  presented  to  unsuspecting  and  con 
fiding  guests,  as  containing  an  innocent,  cheering  and  even  healthful 
beverage ;  and,  by  being  so  presented  in  the  midst  of  boon  com 
panions,  an  appeal  is  made,  guilefully  made,  to  the  kindly  instincts 
and  generous  impulses  of  man's  social  nature,  —  an  appeal  which 
few  long  subject  to  its  seductive  influences  are  able  to  withstand. 
Merely  to  shut  up  these  moral  Golgothas,  these  shambles  of  the  soul, 
would  be  a  noble  triumph.  But  how  are  these  progressive  triumphs 
to  be  accomplished,  this  final  victory  achieved  1  How  7  By  the 
force  of  public  opinion  —  settled,  decided  public  opinion  —  and  such 
public  opinion  embodied,  and  expressed  in  the  form  of  authoritative 
public  LAW,  —  and  thus  embodied  and  expressed  as  fast  and  as  far  as 
it  is  formed."  —  [  EDITOR.  ] 


THE  CHANGE — HOW  ATTAINED.  249 

addressed  as  agents  who,  in  view  of  evidence  and 
motives,  are  to  form  their  own  opinions  and  decide  for 
themselves  their  own  characters  and  course  of  con 
duct  ;  and  hence,  agents  who  can  only  be  gained  to 
abstinence  by  forming  each  for  himself  the  high 
resolve  and  carrying  out  the  same  in  action.  The 
change  in  contemplation  is  a  change  on  princi 
ple  —  a  moral  change,  a  voluntary  change,  a  change 
to  be  effected  by  each  individual  on  himself  and  by 
himself ;  a  rightful  change  —  a  change  in  which 
appetite  is  denied,  reason  enthroned,  and  homage  paid 
to  the  behests  of  duty  and  the  authority  of  truth,  so 
that  in  the  advocacy  of  this  cause  its  friends  are 
estopped  from  appealing  to  physical  force,  not  only, 
but  also  from  appealing  to  all  wrong  principles  of  even 
voluntary  action. 

It  is  easy  to  rail  at  the  rum  and  even  the  wine  seller, 
as  well  as  the  rum  and  the  wine  drinker  ;  to  injure  his 
business,  to  asperse  his  character,  and  to  make  him 
odious  in  community,  and  thus  compel  him,  especially 
where  our  influence  is  controlling,  to  dissemble,  while 
paying  to  our  abhorred  principles  an  external  but 
reluctant  homage. 

It  is  easy,  perhaps  natural,  convinced  as  we  are  of 
the  goodness  of  our  cause,  to  do  this.  But  is  it  kind, 
is  it  fraternal  ?  especially,  is  it  Christian  ?  Have  we 
then  forgotten  how  much  and  how  long  God  has  borne 
with  us  ?  See  we  not  how  long  He  bears  with  others  ? 
How  His  sun  shines  and  His  showers  fall  even  yet  upon 
the  wicked  ?  0  !  it  was  the  disciples  and  not  their 
Master  who,  when  treated  less  urbanely  than  was 


2-50  PRINCIPLES   AND   VOLUNTARY  ACTION. 

befitting,  by  a  village  of  Samaritans,  it  was  the  disci 
ples  who  proposed  to  call  down  fire  from  Heaven  and 
consume  that  village  :  to  whom,  rebuking  their  rash 
ness,  He  said,  "  Ye  know  not  what  manner  of  spirit 
ye  are  of,  for  the  Son  of  man  is  not  come  to  destroy 
men's  lives,  but  to  save  them." 

But  though  estopped  from  appealing  to  physical 
force,  estopped  from  appealing  to  wrong  principles, 
we  are  not  estopped  from  appealing 

TO    RIGHT    PRINCIPLES   AND    VOLUNTARY   ACTION. 

"  I,"  said  the  Savior  of  the  world,  "  I,  if  I  be  lifted 
up,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me." 

The  event  has  verified  the  prediction.  It  is  not 
the  terrors  of  Sinai  that  have  driven,  but  the  attrac- 
tives  of  Calvary  which  have  drawn  so  many  souls  to 
Jesus.  Now,  as  formerly,  there  is  a  charm  in  kind 
ness,  and  to  the  powerless  reformer,  persuasion  is  still 
an  arm  of  power.  Let  us  then,  in  place  of  offending 
by  our  rudeness  and  repelling  by  our  censure,  endeavor 
to  convince  by  our  arguments,  and  conciliate  by  our 
entreaties,  both  the  manufacturer  and  the  vender  as 
well  as  the  consumer  of  intoxicating  liquors. 

Abhorrent  as  the  manufacture  and  sale,  as  a  beve 
rage,  of  intoxicating  liquors  may  be,  to  the  fully 
instructed  and  confirmed  advocates  of  total  abstinence, 
it  is  still  to  be  considered  that  these  are  occupations 
which,  at  no  distant  period,  the  prevalent,  I  had 
almost  said  the  universal,  usages  of  society  called  for ; 
which  law  sanctioned  and  even  religion  itself  was 
believed  and  is  still  believed  by  many  to  sanction ; 


A    SACRIFICE   REQUIRED.  251 

occupations  which  even  temperance  men  patronized 
and  engaged  in  without  compunction.  Under  these 
alleviating  circumstances  the  capital  of  the  manufac 
turer  and  vender  has  to  a  considerable  extent  been 
invested  and  his  habits  formed,  and  he  cannot  now 
transfer  the  one  or  change  the  other  without  incon 
venience  ;  perhaps  not  without  sacrifice,  perhaps  not 
even  without  suffering.  It  is  no  easy  thing  for  a  man 
whose  little  all  is  thus  invested,  and  who  thereby 
obtains  his  daily  bread,  and  who  knows  not  how 
otherwise  to  obtain  it ;  it  is  no  easy  thing  for  such  a 
man  to  gird  himself  up  to  the  performance  of  the 
painful  duty  to  which  our  doctrines  summon  him. 
On  the  contrary,  it  requires  great  magnanimity,  great 
decision  of  character,  and  great  self-sacrifice  to  do 
this. 

Think  not,  therefore,  that  those  whose  hard  lot  it  is 
to  breathe  the  air  of  the  brewer's  vats,  or  to  barrel 
the  liquid  that  flows  from  the  distiller's  still ;  or  that 
those  whose  still  harder  lot  it  is,  standing  at  the 
counter  or  the  bar,  to  measure  out  by  the  gill  to 
drinkers  the  drunkard's  drink ;  think  not  that  these 
men  are  from  the  very  nature  of  their  profession 
greater  sinners  than  other  men.  On  the  contrary, 
they  are  now  what  many  of  us,  and  without  any  change 
of  moral  character,  once  were.  And  many  of  them 
may,  and  doubtless  will,  without  any  change  of 
moral  character,  become  what  we  now  are.  Even 
now  they  have  the  same  hopes  and  fears  and 
sympathies,  the  same  love  of  life  and  liberty  and 
country  and  kindred  and  of  man,  as  other  men  have. 


252        MODERATE   AND    CUSTOMARY   DRINKING. 

Among  them  may  be  found  those  who  would  shrink 
from  crime  with  as  instinctive  a  shuddering,  look  on 
misery  with  as  tender  an  eye,  and  stretch  forth  for  its 
relief  as  willing  an  arm,  as  any  among  ourselves ;  in 
one  word,  there  may  be  found  among  them,  as  among 
us,  men  who  fear  God  and  in  other  respects  work 
righteousness  :  but  owing  to  their  education  or  occu 
pation,  to  their  misapplied  experience,  to  their  igno 
rance  of  facts,  to  the  influence  of  habit,  to  the  force 
of  prejudice,  or  perhaps  to  our  own  unchristian 
advocacy  of  the  cause  itself;  our  unwarranted 
assumptions,  our  insidious  slanders,  our  want  of 
charity,  our  want  of  candor  or  fidelity ;  owing  to 
these  or  other  similar  causes,  they  have  not  yet 
learned  what  we,  though  placed  in  more  favorable 
circumstances,  and  enjoying  greater  light,  were  slow 
to  learn  (not  that  drunkenness  is  at  once  a  crime,  a 
curse  and  a  dishonor,  but) 

That  drunkenness,    by  a  necessity  of  nature,  is  pro 
duced  by  drinking  ;  MODERATE,  CUSTOMARY,  REPUTABLE 

DRINKING  ;  and  that  such  is  the  settled,  unchanging 
order  of  Providence  :  and  hence  the  frequent,  fright 
ful,  loathsome  manifestation  of  this  abhorred  malady, 
among,  and  only  among  temperate  drinkers,  so  called ; 
that  is,  among  those  who  have  the  rashness,  the 
temerity,  I  had  almost  said  the  impiety,  in  the  face 
of  this  settled  order  of  God's  unchanging  providence, 
to  subject  the  living  fibre  of  their  own  organism  to 
the  corrosive  action  of  intoxicating  poisons ;  poisons 
furnished  by  the  Author  of  all  good  for  medicine, 


VICTIMS   NEVER   TEETOTALERS.  253 

not  for  aliment — and  not  intended,  and  declared  by  the 
effects  they  produce  not  intended,  for  habitual  use. 

This  discovery  is  not  fancy  but  fact ;  an  ascertained, 
palpable,  indubitable  fact,  at  the  knowledge  of  which 
we  have  arrived  by  collating  the  data  furnished  during 
other  ages  and  in  other  countries,  and  comparing  the 
same  with  the  state  of  things  existing  in  our  own ; 
m  the  prosecution  of  which  inquiry  we  have  visited 
the  localities  where  intoxicating  liquors  are  manu 
factured,  and  sold,  and  drank.  We  have  marked  their 
effect  in  the  hut  of  ignorance,  and  the  parlor  of 
fashion ;  we  have  actually  taken  the  dimensions  of 
the  miseries  they  have  occasioned,  and  summed  up 
the  number  of  the  dead  which  they  have  slain ;  and 
while  doing  this,  we  have  been  surprised  to  learn, 
that  drunkenness  was  not,  as  we  had  once  supposed, 
a  calamity  resulting  from  some  single,  sudden,  over 
whelming  indiscretion,  or  at  most  from  some  few 
flagrant,  wanton  cases  of  criminal  indulgence,  into 
which  men  of  every  class  were  liable  to  be  surprised  ; 
but  that  it  was  a  calamity  confined  to  a  single  class, 
the  moderate  drinking  class ;  that  the  victims  were 
never  "  teetotalers,"  but  always  moderate  drinkers, 
and  the  process  always  moderate  drinking — a  process 
not  sudden,  but  gradual,  beginning  when  drinking 
began :  continuing  with  its  continuance  :  and  making 
its  silent,  undiscovered,  unsuspected  advance,  covertly 
and  without  sign  of  progress  or  note  of  warning ; 
till  suddenly  friends  and  kindred  are  awakened  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  alarming  truth,  that,  seduced 

NOTT.  22 


254        SELF-DEXIAL   AND    SACRIFICE    REQUIRED. 

by  moderate  drinking  into  drunkenness,  a  father,  a 
son  or  a  brother  lies  in  ruins. 

And  having  discovered  this  truth,  to  wit,  that 
drinking,  I  mean  temperate  drinking,  is  what  makes 
drunkards ;  a  truth  momentous  indeed,  and  big 
with  everlasting  consequence — but  a  truth  hid  for 
ages  —  and  still  hid  from  numbers  ;  having  discovered 
this  truth,  we  hasten  to  announce  it  both  to  the 
vender  and  the  drinker ;  to  announce  it,  not  in  the 
language  of  rebuke  and  crimination,  but  in  that  of 
Heaven's  own  mercy — saying,  as  an  Apostle  said, 
"  Brethren,  I  wot  that  through  ignorance  ye  have 
done  this,  as  did  also  your  rulers,"  who  have  licensed 
and  by  licensing  sanctioned  the  doing.  And  full  well 
we  know  that  even  God  winketh  at  those  bygone 
days  of  ignorance,  though  now,  and  far  as  the  light 
shineth,  commandcth  all  men  everywhere  to  repent. 

That  self-denials  and  sacrifices  will  be  required,  in 
effecting  that  change  in  our  social  habits  which  is 
called  for  by  this  discovery  of  the  deleterious  effects 
of  even  the  moderate  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  on 
the  human  constitution,  must  be  admitted.  And  it 
must  also  be  admitted  that,  so  far  as  sacrifices  are  con 
cerned,  manufacturers  and  venders  will  be  the  chief,  I 
had  almost  said,  the  only  sufferers.  Still  it  must  be 
recollected  that  these  are  sacrifices  that  patriotism  as 
well  as  religion  sanctions  ;  and  such  too  as  are  else 
where  called  for,  whenever  in  this  onward  movement 
of  society  any  new  and  valuable  improvement  is  intro 
duced.  Not  a  canal  can  be  excavated,  a  railroad 
constructed,  a  steamboat  started,  or  even  a  spinning 


INN-KEEPERS GROCERS   EXHORTED.  255 

jenny  or  a  power  loom  put  in  motion,  without  impair 
ing  the  fortune  of  some  and  taking  away  the  means 
of  procuring  bread  from  others. 

And  yet  these  partial  temporary  evils  are  submitted 
to,  and  often  without  a  murmur,  even  by  the  sufferers, 
cheered  as  they  are  by  the  prospect  of  public,  endur 
ing,  superabounding  good. 

But  never  was  the  endurance  of  private  temporary 
evils  encouraged  by  the  promise  of  requital  in  the 
bestowment  of  such  public  enduring  and  superabound 
ing  good  as  in  the  case  before  us. 

O  !  could  the  employment  of  capital,  and  the  con 
sumption  of  provisions,  and  the  waste  of  labor,  in  the 
manufacture  of  intoxicating  liquors,  be  prevented  ;  and 
could  the  moral  and  physical  energy,  now  paralyzed  by 
their  use,  be  directed  to  the  production  of  comforts, 
how  different  would  be  the  condition  of  all  classes — 
especially  of  the  laboring  poor,  who  now,  small  as  their 
earnings  are,  eagerly  purchase,  and  unheedingly  press 
to  their  lips,  that  cup  which  is  ever,  to  those  who 
taste  of  it,  the  cup  of  affliction — often  even  the  cup  of 
death ! 

Brethren,  inn-keepers,  grocers,  whose  business  it  has 
been  to  sell  to  drinkers  the  drunkard's  drink,  has  it 
never  occurred  to  your  minds  that  the  liquors  dispens 
ed  were  destined,  though  unseen  by  you,  to  blanch 
some  glow  of  health,  to  wither  some  blossom  of  hope, 
to  disturb  some  asylum  of  peace,  to  pollute  some 
sanctuary  of  innocence,  or  plant  gratuitous,  perhaps 
enduring  misery,  in  some  bosom  of  joy?  Have  you 
never  in  imagination  followed  the  wretched  inebriate 


256  CONSIDEP   THESE   THINGS, 

whose  glass  you  have  poured  out,  or  whose  jug  or  bot 
tle  you  have  filled  ;  have  you  never  in  imagination  fol 
lowed  him  to  his  unblessed  and  comfortless  abode  ? 
Have  you  never  mentally  witnessed  the  faded  cheek 
and  tearful  eye  of  his  broken-hearted  wife  ;  never  wit 
nessed  the  wistful  look  and  stifled  cry  of  his  terror- 
stricken  children,  waiting  at  night-fall  his  dreaded 
return ;  and  marked  the  thrill  of  horror  which  the 
approaching  sound  of  his  footsteps  sent  across  their 
bosoms  ?  Have  you  never  in  thought  marked  his  rude 
entrance,  his  ferocious  look,  his  savage  yell,  and  that 
demoniac  phrenzy,  under  the  influence  of  which, 
father,  husband  as  he  was,  he  drove  both  wife  and 
children  forth,  exposed  to  the  wintry  blast  and  the 
peltings  of  the  pitiless  storm  ;  or,  denying  them  even 
this  refuge,  how  he  has  smitten  them  both  to  the 
earth  beneath  his  murderous  arm  ? 

If  you  have  never  heretofore  considered  these  things, 
will  you  not  now  consider  them,  and  give  up  an  occu 
pation  so  subversive  of  virtue,  so  conducive  to  crime, 
so  productive  of  misery  ?  You  would  not  willingly, 
even  though  it  were  desired,  you  would  not  directly 
furnish  your  customers  with  pauperism,  insanity, 
crime,  disease  and  death ;  why  then  supply  them 
with  what  produces  these,  and  more  than  these  ; 
more  of  misery  than  eye  hath  seen,  or  ear  heard,  or 
than  it  hath  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive  ? 

But  the  sale  of  liquors  is  your  employment,  and  it 
furnishes  you  and  yours  subsistence.  Be  it  so  ;  still, 
is  it  a  desirable  employment  ?  Are  you  willing  to  live, 
and  that  your  family  should  live,  on  the  miseries  en- 


RELINQUISHING   THE    TRAFFIC.  257 

dared,  and  the  crimes  committed  by  others,  in  conse 
quence  of  poisons  by  you  dispensed?  Are  you  willing 
to  receive  and  treasure  up  the  profits,  which  arise  from 
the  widow's  tears,  the  orphan's  cries,  the  maniac's  loss 
of  reason,  the  convict's  loss  of  liberty,  and  the  suicide's 
loss  of  life  ?  Are  you  willing  that  death  should  find 
you  still  corrupting  youth,  dishonoring  age,  and  send 
ing  waste  and  want  and  battle  into  the  families  of  the 
poor ;  and  disgrace,  disease  and  death  into  those  of  the 
rich ;  and  subverting,  in  both,  the  course  of  nature,  so 
that  in  the  habitations  of  maternal  kindness,  and  under 
the  tutelage  of  paternal  virtue,  in  place  of  wise  and 
good  and  useful  men,  debauchees  and  paupers  and 
criminals  are  reared  up  ?  Are  you  willing  death  should 
find  you  still  preparing  victims  for  the  poor-house  and 
prison-house  and  grave-yard  ? 

And  ye,  men  of  fortune,  manufacturers,  importers, 
wholesale  dealers,  will  you  not  for  the  sake  of  the 
young,  the  old,  the  rich,  the  poor,  the  happy,  the 
miserable,  in  one  word,  for  the  sake  of  our  common 
humanity,  in  all  the  states  and  forms  in  which  it  is 
presented,  will  you  not  shut  up  your  distilleries,  coun 
termand  your  orders,  and  announce  the  heaven- 
approved  resolution,  never  hereafter  to  do  aught  to 
swell  the  issue  of  these  waters  of  woe  and  death,  with 
which  this  young  republic  is  already  flooded  ? 

Have  you  never  thought,  as  you  rolled  out  and  deliv 
ered  to  the  purchaser  his  cask,  have  you  never  thought 
how  many  mothers  must  mourn,  how  many  wives 
suffer,  how  many  children  must  supplicate ;  how  many 
men  of  virtue  must  be  corrupted,  men  of  honor  debased, 

NOTT.  *22 


258  INTEMPERANCE   A   MORAL   BLIGHT. 

and  of  intelligence  demented,  by  partaking  of  that  fatal 
poison,  dispensed  from  you,  seller,  and  to  be  paid  for  as 
per  invoice  ? 

Have  you  never  thought  what  a  moral  blight  there 
was  to  be  set  abroad  over  that  hamlet  or  village, 
where  the  vile  disease  and  crime-producing  contents 
of  that  cask,  drained  to  its  dregs,  was  to  be  palmed, 
under  the  guise  of  a  healthful  beverage,  on  the 
orderly,  uninformed  and  unsuspecting  inhabitants 
thereof?  In  your  own  poor-houses  and  prison-houses 
and  grave-yards,  in  the  beggars  that  frequent  the 
city,  in  the  loafers  that  infest  the  suburbs,  and  in  the 
shop-lifters  and  incendiaries  so  common  in  both,  you 
see  something,  indeed,  but  not  a  tithe  of  the  whole 
evils  which  the  traffic  in  these  accursed  liquors  pro 
duce,  sent  forth,  in  quantities,  as  they  are,  along  those 
extended  channels  that  connect  the  far-off  lakes  with 
the  ocean — along  the  no  less  extended  seaboard,  and 
up  the  great  valley  of  the  west,  to  every  islet  and 
glen,  over  every  railroad  or  other  avenue,  to  every 
inland  village  or  shanty  or  cabin,  inflicting  every 
where  the  same  miseries  inflicted  in  the  city  from 
whence  this  element  of  evil  was  sent  abroad — im 
pairing  the  health,  diminishing  the  vigor,  and  sowing 
the  seeds  of  death  in  the  constitution  of  the  hardy 
laborer  in  the  field,  the  ruddy  housewife  in  the 
family,  and  the  pale  infant  in  the  cradle — sharpening 
the  avarice  of  the  trader,  inflaming  the  vengeance  of 
the  natives,  raising  the  war  cry  amid  the  hunting 
grounds  of  the  wilderness,  and  rendering  savage  life 
itself  less  secure  and  more  comfortless,  to  the  foot  of 


EVILS   PRODUCED   BY   LIQUOK.  259 

the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  even  the  regions  that  lie 
beyond  them. 

But  it  were  vain  to  attempt  to  portray  the  severity 
or  take  the  dimensions  of  the  evils  produced  by  a  single 
cask  of  intoxicating  liquors,  inconsiderately  sent  forth 
from  the  warehouse  of  the  sober,  moral,  and  often 
religious  dealer,  to  the  far-off  west,  or  perhaps  to 
some  other  continent,  or  to  the  islands  of  some  dis 
tant  sea,  there  to  execute  unseen,  and  on  beings 
unknown,  its  work  of  death — there  to  sadden  the 
missionary,  to  "  demonize  "  the  savage,  and  cause  the 
hopeful  convert  to  apostatize  from  the  faith  he  had 
professed.  These  are  evils,  however,  which  God 
registers  in  the  book  of  his  remembrance,  and  which  the 
day  of  judgment  will  bring  to  light ;  as  well  as  those 
other  evils  nearer  home  of  which  we  have  already 
spoken,  and,  would  time  permit,  might  still  farther 
speak ;  for  at  home  and  abroad,  in  the  city  and 
country,  in  the  solitude  and  by  the  way  side,  it  is  not 
blessings,  but  curses,  that  the  venders  of  intoxicating 
liquors  dispense  to  their  customers. 

Said  a  venerable  grocer,  looking  along  a  street  in 
which  in  early  life  he  had  planted  himself — "  That 
street  has  twice  changed  most  of  its  inhabitants  since 
I  commenced  business  in  it ;  and  the  present  occu 
pants,  untaught  by  the  fate  of  their  predecessors,  are 
drinking  themselves  to  death  as  speedily  as  practica 
ble."  "  I  admit,"  said  another  grocer,  "  that  what 
you  say  is  true  ;  we  know  we  sell  POISON  ;  all  the 
world  know  this ;  mankind  have  acquired  a  taste  for 
poison,  and  will  have  it ;  we  merely  administer  to 


260  THE  WINE  DEALER'S  WIFE. 

that  taste,  and  if  people  will  kill  themselves,  it  is 
their  own,  and  not  our  fault." 

A  wine  dealer's  wife,  in  the  commercial  capital  of 
the  state,  whose  conscience  was  ill  at  ease  in  relation 
to  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  liquors,  availing  herself 
of  an  auspicious  moment,  said  to  her  husband,  "  I  do 
not  like  your  selling  liquor ;  it  seems  to  me  to  be  a 
bad  business  ;  you  do  not,  I  suppose,  make  more  than 
one  or  two  hundred  dollars  a  year  by  it,  and  I  should 
be  very-much  rejoiced  if  you  would  give  it  up."  "  I 
know,"  answered  her  husband,  "  as  well  as  you  do, 
that  it  is  a  bad  business ;  I  should  be  as  glad  to  give 
it  up  as  you  would  be  to  have  me,  and  if  I  did  not 
make  more  than  one,  or  two,  or  even  five  hundred 
dollars  a  year  by  it,  I  would  give  it  up."  "  How 
much,  then,"  inquired  his  wife,  "do  you  make?" 
"  Why,"  replied  her  husband,  "  I  make  from  two  to 
three  thousand  dollars  a  year,  an  amount  quite  too 
large  to  be  relinquished."  "  What  you  say,"  she 
rejoined,  "brings  to  my  mind  the  remarks  of  a  lecturer 
I  once  heard,  who  having  repeated  what  Walpole 
said  in  relation  to  every  man  having  his  price  in 
politics,  added  that  it  was  much  the  same  in  religion. 
Satan,  continued  he,  is  a  broker — not  a  wheat,  or  cot 
ton,  or  money  broker,  but  a  soul  broker :  some  can  be 
procured  to  labor  in  his  service  for  a  hundred,  some 
for  a  thousand,  and  some  for  ten  thousand  dollars  a 
year.  The  price  at  which  you  estimate  your  soul,  I 
see,  is  three  thousand  dollars  a  year.  My  dear  hus 
band,  look  you  well  to  it — to  me  it  seems  that  even 


INCIDENT  DURING  THE   CHOLEEA   SEASON.      261 

three  thousand  dollars  a  year  is  a  paltry  price  for  that 
which  is  truly  priceless." 

On  the  mind  of  that  husband  sudden  conviction 
flashed;  and  liberal  as  was  his  portion  in  those 
rewards  of  unrighteousness  which  Satan  proffered,  he 
resolved,  and  avowed  the  resolution,  to  receive  it  no 
longer. 

Dealer  in  these  disguised  poisons,  how  stands  this 
profit  and  loss  account  with  you  ?  Have  you  summed 
up  the  items  and  ascertained  the  total  to  be  by  you 
received  in  exchange  for  that  which  "  angels  dare  not 
bid  for,  and  worlds  want  wealth  to  bny  ?" 

Not  without  reason  did  the  poet  say,  in  reference 
to  the  debasing  influence  of  sinful  mercenary  pur 
suits — 

"  How  low  the  wretches  stoop !  how  deep  they  plunge 
In  mire  and  dirt :  they  drudge  and  sweat  and  creep 
Through  every  fen,  for  vile  contaminating  trash. 
Since  prone  in  thought  their  nature  is  their  shame  ; 
And  they  should  blush,  their  forehead  meets  the  skies." 

In  an  address  at  a  late  temperance  anniversary, 
said  a  speaker :  "  During  the  cholera  season  there 
came  into  my  office  in  New- York,  one  forenoon,  a 
grocer  with  whom  I  had  been  acquainted,  and  said 
with  much  agitation,  I  am  going  to  give  up  selling 
spirit ous  liquors.  Why  ?  said  I.  Because,  rejoined 
he,  there  came  into  my  store  this  morning,  at  a  very 
early  hour,  a  young  man,  who,  looking  up  to  the 
brandy  bottle  which  stood  upon  the  shelf,  exclaimed, 
with  a  fearful  oath,  Come  down !  come  down ! 
You  killed  my  grandfather — you  killed  my  father  ; 


262  GROCER'S  NARRATIVE. 

come  down  now,  and  kill  me.  What  that  young 
man  said,  continued  the  grocer,  was  but  too  true. 
His  grandfather  died  a  drunkard,  and  with  liquor 
obtained  at  my  store.  His  father  died  a  drunkard, 
and  with  liquor  obtained  at  my  store.  Both  drank 
from  the  same  bottle  and  both  were  dead  ;  both  the 
grandfather  and  father ;  and  now  the  son  had  come  to 
claim  the  sad  privilege  of  drinking  from  the  same 
bottle,  and  dying  as  his  grandfather  and  father  had 
died.  I  looked  at  that  young  man — I  thought  of 
the  past,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  way  to  hell  from 
my  store  was  very  short — that  I  could,  from  behind 
the  counter  where  I  stood,  look  quite  into  it ;  I  felt 
that  the  business  of  selling  liquor  was  a  bad  business, 
and  I  made  up  my  mind  to  quit  it." 

And,  true  to  his  purpose,  he  did  so  —  and  before 
the  sun  went  down  every  keg  and  decanter  was 
removed  from  his  premises  to  return  to  it  no  more. 
A  blessing  followed  that  decisive  act ;  and  having 
refused  any  longer  to  receive  the  wages  of  unright 
eousness,  he  has  enjoyed  the  visitation  of  the  Spirit, 
and  been  made,  and  his  family  have  been  made,  par 
takers  in  the  purer,  higher,  holier  pleasures  of  religion. 
Inn-keepers,  grocers,  dispensers,  from  the  counter  or 
the  bar  room,  of  the  same  disguised  poison,  you 
have  heard  this  brief  but  affecting  narrative ;  and 
having  heard  it,  I  ask,  how  does  your  experience  tally 
with  the  proclaimed  experience  of  your  fellow-laborer 
in  that  common  occupation  in  which  you  have  been 
engaged  ?  Have  your  brandy  bottles,  or  beer  casks, 


DEALER  ADDRESSED.  263 

or  rum  jugs,  been  more  or  less  effective  than  his  in 
this  work  of  death  ? 

Can  you  recall  the  names,  or  sum  up  the  number, 
of  those  customers  of  yours,  who,  reeling  one  by  one, 
in  succession,  from  your  dispensaries  of  sin  and  suffer 
ing,  have  disappeared  and  sunk  down  to  the  abodes 
of  death?  Is  the  way  longer  from  your  counter  or 
your  bar  room  to  the  grave  yard,  or  even  to  that  hell 
beyond  it,  than  it  was  from  his?  Could  you,  in  fact, 
look  into  the  latter  as  he  did  in  fancy  —  what  think 
you  would  be  the  discoveries  such  a  vision  would 
unfold  ?  Could  you  see  the  horror-stricken  counte 
nances,  could  you  hear  the  unceasing  wail  of  those  to 
whom,  standing  at  your  counter  or  your  bar,  you 
have  meted  out  by  measure,  and  for  pay,  this  well 
known  element  of  death  —  even  of  the  second  death 
— could  you  do  this,  what  would  your  emotions  be  as 
your  eye  met  theirs  who  are  now  suffering  in  hell,- 
the  torments  brought  upon  them  by  indulging  in  those 
appetites  to  which  on  earth  it  was  your  unworthy  and 
cruel  office  to  have  ministered  ? 

And  are  you  willing  that  death  should  find  you  to 
the  last  thus  occupied  ?  Are  you  willing  to  go  direct 
from  the  rum  or  beer  selling  bar  to  the  bar  of  God's 
righteous  retribution  ?  Having  posted  your  books  and 
made  out  your  bills  for  all  the  poisons  you  have  ever 
dispensed  —  the  families  you  have  made  wretched  — 
the  individuals  you  have  brutalized,  and  the  criminals 
you  have  sent  prematurely  and  uncalled  for  to  meet 
their  eternal  doom ;  having  posted  your  books  and 
made  out  your  bills  for  all  these  services,  which  in 


264  DEALER  ADDRESSED. 

your  day  and  generation  you  have  rendered  mankind, 
are  you  willing  to  present  this  summary  to  your  final 
Judge  and  abide  the  issue  ?  Think  you  that  He  who 
bestowed  your  talents  and  fixed  the  bounds  of  your 
habitation,  saying,  "  Creature  of  my  beneficence  and 
my  power,  occupy  till  I  come  ;"  think  you  that  He, 
having  examined  these  doings  of  yours,  the  motives 
from  which  they  sprung,  and  the  results  to  which 
they  led,  will  add,  "  Well  done,  good  and  faithful 
servant,  thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  few  things,  I 
will  make  thee  ruler  over  many  things,  enter  thou 
into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord  ?" 

If  not,  then  change  your  position  while  you  may, 
and  like  that  repentant  grocer  of  whom  you  have 
heard,  form  the  high  resolve  to  quit  at  once,  and  at 
whatever  sacrifice,  a  servitude  so  debasing,  and  to 
spend  the  remainder  of  your  stay  on  earth  in  some 
blameless,  if  not  higher  and  holier  occupation. 


LECTURE  No.  XL 


RECAPITULATION  — GENERAL  APPEAL  IN 
BEHALF  OF  TEMPERANCE. 

Appeal  to  Parents  —  To  Youth  —  To  Women — Conclusion. 

IN  the  preceding  lectures,  we  have  shown  that  a  kind 
of  wine  has  existed  from  great  antiquity,  which  was 
injurious  to  health  and  subversive  of  morals  ;  that 
these  evils,  since  the  introduction  of  distillation, 
have  been  greatly  increased;  that  half  the  lunacy, 
three-fourths  of  the  pauperism,  and  five-sixths  of  the 
crime  with  which  the  nation  is  visited,  is  owing  to 
intemperance ;  that  there  are  believed  to  be  five  hun 
dred  thousand  drunkards  in  the  republic,  and  that 
thousands  die  of  drunkenness  annually.  We  have 
also  shown  that  drunkenness  results  from  moderate 
drinking,  and  that  drunkenness  must  continue,  by  a 
necessity  of  nature,  as  long  as  habitual  temperate 
drinking  is  continued ;  that  it  is  not  the  drinking  of 
water  or  milk,  or  any  other  necessary  or  nutritive 
beverage,  but  of  intoxicating  liquors  only,  that  pro 
duces  drunkenness;  that  as  the  existing  system  of 
moderate  drinking  occasions  all  the  drunkenness  that 
exists,  so  that  system  must  be  abandoned,  or  its  ex- 

NOTT  23 


266  WHAT  HAS   BEEX    SHOWN. 

pense  in  muscle  and  sinew  and  mind,  provided  for  by 
this,  and  all  future  generations ;  that  even  moderate 
drinking  is  now  more  dangerous  than  formerly,  be 
cause  intoxicating  drinks  are  more  deadly  —  to  the 
poison  of  alcohol,  generated  by  fermentation,  other 
poison  having  been  added  by  drugging,  and  that  alike 
to  intoxicating  liquors,  whether  fermented  or  distilled. 
We  have  enumerated  the  kinds  of  poison  made  use 
of  in  the  products  of  the  still  and  of  the  brew-house, 
and  met  the  objection  that  the  use  of  wine  was  sanc 
tioned  by  the  Bible,  by  showing  that  there  were  differ 
ent  kinds  of  wine,  some  of  which  were  good  and  some 
bad,  and  that  the  former  only  were  commended  in  the 
Bible;  that  though  it  were  allowable  to  use  pure 
wines  in  Palestine,  it  would  not  follow  that  it  was 
allowable  to  use  mixed  wines  here,  where  intenser 
poisons  exist,  and  where  the  use  of  wine  leads  to  the 
use  of  brandy,  and  the  use  of  brandy  to  drunkenness : 
We  have  shown  that  even  in  Palestine  it  was  good 
not  to  drink  wine,  when  it  caused  a  brother  to  offend, 
and  therefore  not  good  elsewhere,  and  especially  here, 
and  at  the  present  time,  when  the  tremendous  evils 
of  intemperance  in  some  classes  of  community  render 
total  abstinence  befitting  in  all  classes,  in  conformity 
to  that  great  law  of  love  which  Jesus  Christ  promul 
gated,  and  in  conformity  to  which  the  apostles  of 
Jesus  Christ  acted,  and  the  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ 
are  bound  to  act. 

We  have  shown  that  the  books  of  Nature  and  Reve 
lation  both  proceeded  from  God,  and  both  contain, 
though  with  unequal  degrees  of  clearness,  an  expres- 


WHO   HAVE   BEEN   ADDRESSED.  267 

sion  of  his  will :  that  the  import  of  the  one  is  disco 
vered  by  reading  and  meditation,  of  the  other  by 
observation  and  experiment ;  that  in  this  latter  oracle 
mankind  are  distinctly  taught,  that  aliments  restore 
the  waste  of  the  human  organism,  but  that  stimulants 
impair  the  sensibility  on  which  they  operate,  and 
hence  that  the  latter  are  not  intended  for  habitual  use, 
that  they  who  so  use  intoxicating  liquors  violate  an 
established  law  of  nature,  and  that  the  drunkenness, 
disease  and  death,  which  result  from  such  use,  are  the 
penalty  which  follows,  by  the  appointment  of  God, 
the  violation  of  that  law  ;  that  God  wills  the  happiness 
of  his  creatures,  and  when  the  authority  of  the  Bible 
is  plead  in  behalf  of  any  usage  that  leads  to  misery, 
it  may  be  known  that  the  Bible  is  plead  in  error  in 
behalf  of  such  usage ;  that  in  the  present  instance, 
and  so  far  as  the  wines  of  commerce  are  concerned, 
to  appeal  to  the  Bible  as  authority,  is  absurd ;  that 
the  Bible  knows  nothing  and  teaches  nothing  directly, 
in  relation  to  these  wines  of  commerce — the  same 
being  either  a  brand ied  or  drugged  article,  never  in 
use  in  Palestine ;  that  in  relation  to  these  spurious 
articles  the  book  of  nature  must  alone  be  consulted, 
and  that  being  consulted,  their  condemnation  will  be 
found  on  many  a  page,  inscribed  in  characters  of 
wrath. 

In  the  view  of  these  and  other  truths,  we  have  ad 
dressed  ourselves  to  the  manufacturer  and  vender  of 
these  legalized  poisons ;  and  there  are  yet  others  to 
whom,  in  the  view  of  the  same  truths,  we  would,  in 
conclusion,  address  ourselves. 


268  PARENTS   ADDEESSED. 

Fathers,  mothers,  heads  of  families,  if  not  prepared 
at  this  late  hour  to  change  your  mode  of  life,  are  you 
not  prepared  to  encourage  the  young,  particularly 
your  children,  to  change  theirs  ?  Act  as  you  may, 
yourselves,  do  you  not  desire  that  they  should  act 
the  part  of  safety?  Can  you  not  tell  them,  and  truly 
tell  them,  that  our  manner  of  life  is  attended  with 
less  peril  than  your  own  ?  Can  you  not  tell  them, 
and  truly  tell  them,  that  however  innocent  the  use 
even  of  pure  wine  may  be,  in  the  estimation  of  those 
who  use  it,  that  its  use  in  health  is  never  necessary  ; 
that  excess  is  always  injurious,  and  that  in  the  habi 
tual  use  of  even  such  wine  there  is  always  danger  of 
excess ;  that  of  the  brandied  and  otherwise  adulte 
rated  wines  in  use,  it  cannot  be  said,  in  whatever 
quantity,  that  they  are  innocent ;  that  the  tempta 
tion  to  adulterate  is  very  great,  detection  very 
difficult,  and  that  entire  safety  is  to  be  found  only  in 
total  abstinence  ?  Can  you  not  truly  tell  them  this  ? 
Will  you  not  tell  them  this  ?  And  having  told  them, 
should  they,  in  obedience  to  your  counsel,  relinquish 
at  once  the  use  of  all  intoxicating  liquors,  would 
their  present  condition,  you  yourselves  being  judges, 
would  their  present  condition  be  less  secure,  or  their 
future  prospects  less  full  of  promise,  on  that  account? 
Or  would  the  remembrance,  that  the  stand  they  took 
was  taken  at  your  bidding,  either  awaken  in  your 
bosoms  misgivings  now,  or  regrets  hereafter  ?  Espe 
cially,  would  it  do  this  as  life  declines,  and  you 
approach  your  final  dissolution  and  last  account? 
Then,  when  standing  on  the  verge  of  that  narrow 


CHILDREN   ADDRESSED.  269 

isthmus,  which  separates  the  future  from  the  past, 
and  connects  eternity  with  time  ;  then,  when  casting 
the  last  lingering  look  back  upon  that  world  to 
which  you  are  about  to  bid  adieu  forever,  will  the 
thought  that  you  are  to  leave  behind  you  a  family 
trained  to  temperance  not  only,  but  pledged  also  to 
total  abstinence,  will  that  thought,  then,  think  you, 
plant  one  thorn  in  the  pillow  of  sickness,  or  add  one 
pang  to  the  agonies  of  death  ?  0  !  no,  it  is  not  this 
thought,  but  the  thought  of  dying  and  leaving  be 
hind  a  family  of  profligate  children,  to  nurture  other 
children  no  less  profligate,  in  their  turn  to  nurture 
others, — thus  transmitting  guilt  and  misery  to  a  re 
mote  posterity ;  it  is  this  thought,  and  thoughts  like 
this,  in  connection  with  another  thought,  suggested 
by  those  awful  words,  "  For  I,  the  Lord  thy  God, 
am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the  iniquities  of  the  fathers 
upon  the  children,  to  the  third  and  fourth  generation, 
of  them  that  hate  me ;" — it  is  thoughts  like  these, 
and  not  the  thought  of  leaving  behind  a  family 
pledged  to  total  abstinence,  that  will  give  to  life's 
last  act  a  sadder  coloring,  and  man's  last  hour  a  den 
ser  darkness.  Between  these  two  conditions  of  the 
dying,  if  held  within  our  offer,  who  of  us  would 
hesitate  ? 

Ye  children  of  moderate  drinking  parents ;  children 
of  so  many  hopes,  and  solicitudes  and  prayers ;  the 
sin  of  drunkenness  apart,  the  innocence  of  abstinence 
apart,  here  are  two  classes  of  men,  and  two  plans  of 
life,  each  proffered  to  your  approbation,  and  sub 
mitted  for  your  choice :  The  one  class  use  intoxi- 

NOTT.  *23 


270  THE    YOUTH    ADDRESSED. 

eating  liquor,  moderately  indeed,  still  they  use 
intoxicating  liquor  in  some  or  many  of  its  forms; 
the  other  class  use  it  in  none  of  them :  The  one  class, 
in  consequence  of  such  use  of  intoxicating  liquor, 
furnish  all  the  drunkenness,  three-fourths  of  all  the 
pauperism  and  five-sixths  of  all  the  crime,  under  the 
accumulating  and  accumulated  weight  of  which  our 
country  already  groans.  Yes,  in  consequence  of  such 
restricted  use  of  intoxicating  liquors,  the  one  class 
pays  an  annual  tribute  in  muscle  and  sinew,  in 
intellect  and  virtue,  aye,  in  the  souls  of  men ;  a 
mighty  tribute,  embodied  in  the  persons  of  inebriates, 
taken  from  the  ranks  of  temperate  drinkers  and 
delivered  over  to  the  jail,  the  mad-house,  the  house 
of  correction,  and  even  the  house  of  silence ! 

The  other  class  pays  no  such  tribute  ;  no,  nor  even 
a  portion  of  it.  The  other  burthens  of  community 
they  share  indeed,  in  common  with  their  brethren ;  a 
portion  of  their  earnings  goes  even  to  provide  and 
furnish  those  abodes  of  woe  and  death,  which  intoxi 
cating  liquors  crowd  with  inmates  ;  but  the  inmates 
themselves  are  all,  all  trained  in  the  society,  instructed 
in  the  maxims,  moulded  by  the  customs,  and  finally 
delivered  up  from  the  ranks  of  the  opposite  party — 
the  moderate  drinking  party. 

Now,  beloved  youth,  which  of  these  two  modes  of 
life  will  you  adopt  ?  To  which  of  these  two  classes 
will  you  attach  yourselves  ?  Which  think  you  is  the 
safest,  which  most  noble,  patriotic,  Christian  ?  In  one 
word,  which  will  insure  the  purest  bliss  on  earth,  and 
afford  the  fairest  prospect  of  admission  into  heaven  ? 


DESOLATION   OF   THE   INEBRIATE.  271 

For  the  mere  privilege  of  using  intoxicating  liquors 
moderately,  are  you  willing  to  contribute  your  pro 
portion  annually  to  people  the  poor-house,  the  prison- 
house  and  the  grave-yard  ?  For  such  a  privilege,  are 
you  willing  to  give  up  to  death,  or  even  to  delirium 
tremens,  a  parent  this  year,  a  wife,  a  child  or  brother 
or  sister  the  next,  and  the  year  thereafter  a  friend  or 
neighbor  ?  Are  you  willing  to  do  this,  and  having 
done  it,  are  you  further  willing,  as  a  consequence,  to 
hear  the  mothers',  the  wives',  the  widows',  and  the 
orphans'  wailings,  on  account  of  miseries  inflicted  by 
a  system  deliberately  adopted  by  your  choice,  sus 
tained  by  your  example,  and  perpetuated  by  your  influ 
ence  ?  Nor  to  hear  alone  ;  are  you  willing  to  see  also 
the  beggar's  rags,  the  convict's  fetters,  and  those 
other  and  more  hideous  forms  of  guilt  and  misery, 
the  product  of  intemperance,  which  liken  men  to 
demons  and  earth  to  hell  ? 

That  frightful  outward  desolation,  apparent  in  the 
person  and  the  home  of  the  inebriate,  is  but  an  em 
blem  of  a  still  more  frightful  inward  desolation.  The 
comfortless  abode,  the  sorrow-stricken  family,  the 
tattered  garments,  the  palsied  tread,  the  ghastly 
countenance,  and  loathsome  aspect,  of  the  habitual 
brutal  drunkard,  fill  us  with  abhorrence.  We  shun 
his  presence,  and  shrink  instinctively  from  his 
polluting  touch.  But  what  are  all  these  sad  items, 
which  affect  the  outer  man  only,  in  comparison  with 
the  blighted  hopes,  the  withered  intellect,  the  debased 
propensities,  the  brutal  appetites,  the  demoniac 
passions,  the  defiled  conscience  ;  in  one  word,  in 


272  BE   NOT   DECEIVED. 

comparison  with  the  sadder  moral  items  which  com 
plete  the  frightful  spectacle  of  a  soul  iu  ruins  ;  a  soul 
deserted  of  G-od,  possessed  by  demons,  and  from 
which  the  last  lineaments  of  its  Maker's  image  have 
been  utterly  effaced ;  a  soul  scathed  and  riven,  and 
standing  forth  already,  as  it  will  hereafter  stand  forth, 
frightful  amid  its  ruins,  a  monument  of  wrath,  and  a 
warning  to  the  universe. 

Be  not  deceived,  nor  fear  to  take  the  dimensions 
of  the  evils  that  threaten,  or  to  look  that  destroyer  in 
the  face,  which  you  are  about  to  arm  against  your 
selves.  Not  the  solid  rock  withstands  forever  the 
touch  of  water  even,  much  less  the  living  fibre  that 
of  alcohol,  or  those  other  and  intenser  poisons  min 
gled  with  it,  in  those  inebriating  liquors  of  which  a 
moiety  of  the  nation  drinks.  The  habitual  use  of 
such  liquors  in  small  quantities  prepares  the  way  for 
their  use  in  larger  quantities,  and  yet  larger  quanti 
ties  progressively,  till  inebriation  is  produced.  Such 
is  the  constitution  of  nature ;  it  is  preposterous, 
therefore,  to  calculate  upon  exemption.  Exceptions 
indeed  there  may  be ;  but  they  are  exceptions 
merely.  The  rule  is  otherwise.  If  you  live  an 
habitual  drinker  of  such  liquors,  you  ought  to  calcu 
late  to  die  a  confirmed  drunkard :  and  that  your 
children,  and  your  children's  children,  should  they 
follow  your  example,  will  die  confirmed  drunkards 
also.  And  if  life  shall  be  prolonged  to  them,  and 
they  so  live,  they  will  so  die,  unless  the  course  of 
nature  shall  be  changed. 


STOP   WHILE    YOU   MAY.  273 

In  the  view  of  these  facts  and  arguments  which  the 
subject  before  you  presents,  make  up  your  minds, 
make  up  your  minds  deliberately,  and  having  done 
so,  say  whether  you  are  willing  to  take  along  with 
the  habitual  moderate  use  of  intoxicating  liquors,  as 
bought  and  sold,  and  drank  among  us,  the  appalling 
consequences  that  must  result  therefrom.  Are  you 
willing  to  do  this  ?  and  if  you  are  not,  stop,  —  stop 
while  you  may,  and  where  you  can.  In  this  descent 
to  Hades  there  is  no  half-way  house,  no  central  resting 
place.  The  movement  once  commenced,  is  ever 
onward  and  downward.  The  thirst  created  is  quench 
less,  the  appetite  induced  insatiable.  You  may  not 
live  to  complete  the  process — but  this  know,  that 
it  is  naturally  progressive,  and  that  with  every  suc 
cessive  sip  from  the  fatal  chalice,  it  advances,  imper 
ceptibly  indeed,  still  it  advances  towards  completion. 
Yon  demented  sot,  once  a  moderate  drinker,  occu 
pied  the  ground  you  now  occupy,  and  looked  down 
on  former  sots,  as  you,  a  moderate  drinker,  now  look 
down  on  him,  and  as  future  moderate  drinkers  may 
yet  look  down  on  you,  and  wonder ; 

"  Facilis  decensus  averni." 

Let  it  never  be  forgotten  that  we  are  social  beings. 
No  man  liveth  to  himself;  on  the  contrary,  grouped 
together  in  various  ways,  each  acts,  and  is  acted  on 
by  others.  Though  living  at  a  distance  of  so  many 
generations,  we  feel  even  yet,  and  in  its  strength,  the 
effect  of  the  first  transgression.  Now,  as  formerly,  it 
is  the  nature  of  vice,  as  well  as  virtue,  to  extend  and 


274  WOMEN   ADDRESSED. 

perpetuate  itself.  Now,  as  formerly,  the  existing 
generation  is  giving  the  impress  of  its  character  to 
the  generation  which  is  to  follow  it  —  and  now,  as 
formerly,  parents  are  by  their  conduct  and  their 
counsel,  either  weaving  crowns  to  signalize  their 
offspring  in  the  Heavens,  or  forging  chains  to  be 
worn  by  them  in  hell. 

Hearer,  time  is  on  the  wing  ;  death  is  at  hand ;  act 
now,  therefore,  the  part  that  you  will  in  that  hour  ap 
prove,  and  reprobate  the  conduct  you  will  then  con 
demn. 

It  has  not  been  usual  for  the  speaker,  as  it  has  for 
some  others,  to  bespeak  the  influence  of  those  who 
constitute  the  most  numerous,  as  well  as  most 
efficient  part  of  almost  every  assembly,  where  self- 
denials  are  called  for,  or  questions  of  practical  duty 
discussed.  And  yet,  no  one  is  more  indebted  than 
myself  to  the  kind  of  influence  in  question. 

Under  God,  I  owe  my  early  education,  nay,  all 
that  I  have  been,  or  am,  to  the  counsel  and  tutelage 
of  a  pious  mother.  It  was,  peace  to  her  sainted 
spirit,  it  was  her  monitory  voice  that  first  taught  my 
young  heart  to  feel  that  there  was  danger  in  the  in 
toxicating  cup,  and  that  safety  lay  in  abstinence. 

And  as  no  one  is  more  indebted  than  myself  to 
the  kind  of  influence  in  question,  so  no  one  more 
fully  realizes  how  decisively  it  bears  upon  the  des 
tinies  of  others. 

Full  well  I  know,  that  by  woman  came  the 
apostacy  of  Adam,  and  by  woman  the  recovery 
through  Jesus.  It  was  a  woman  that  imbued  the 


CELEBEATED   WOMEN.  275 

mind  and  formed  the  character  of  Moses,  Israel's 
deliverer — it  was  a  woman  that  led  the  choir,  and 
gave  back  the  response  of  that  triumphal  procession, 
which  went  forth  to  celebrate  with  timbrels,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Red  Sea,  the  overthrow  of  Pharoah — 
it  was  a  woman  that  put  Sisera  to  flight,  that  corn- 
composed  the  song  of  Deborah  and  Barak,  the  son  of 
Abinoam,  and  judged  in  righteousness,  for  years,  the 
tribes  of  Israel — it  was  a  woman  that  defeated  the 
wicked  counsels  of  Haman,  delivered  righteous 
Mordecai,  and  saved  a  whole  people  from  utter  de 
solation. 

And  not  now  to  speak  of  Semiramis  at  Babylon,  of 
Catharine  of  Russia,  or  of  those  Queens  of  England, 
whose  joyous  reign  constitute  the  brightest  periods 
of  British  history,  or  of  her,  the  young  and  lovely, 
the  patron  of  learning  and  morals,  who  now  adorns 
the  throne  of  the  sea-girt  Isles ;  not  now  to  speak 
of  these,  there  are  others  of  more  sacred  character,  of 
whom  it  were  admissable  even  now  to  speak. 

The  sceptre  of  empire  is  not  the  sceptre  that  best 
befits  the  hand  of  woman  ;  nor  is  the  field  of  carnage 
her  field  of  glory.  Home,  sweet  home,  is  her  theatre 
of  action,  her  pedestal  of  beauty,  and  throne  of 
power.  Or  if  seen  abroad,  she  is  seen  to  the  best 
advantage,  when  on  errands  of  love,  and  wearing  her 
robe  of  mercy. 

It  was  not  woman  who  slept  during  the  agonies 
of  Gethsemane  ;  it  was  not  woman  who  denied  her 
Lord  at  the  palace  of  Caiaphas  ;  it  was  not  woman 
who  deserted  his  cross  on  the  hill  of  Calvary.  But 


276  CHARACTER   OF   WOMAN. 

it  was  woman  that  dared  to  testify  her  respect  for 
his  corpse,  that  procured  spices  for  embalming  it,  and 
that  was  found  last  at  night,  and  first  in  the  morning, 
at  his  sepulchre.  Time  has  neither  impaired  her 
kindness,  shaken  her  constancy,  or  changed  her 
character. 

Now,  as  formerly,  she  is  most  ready  to  enter,  and 
most  reluctant  to  leave,  the  abode  of  misery.  Now, 
as  formerly,  it  is  her  office,  and  well  it  has  been  sus 
tained,  to  stay  the  fainting  head,  wipe  from  the  dim 
eye  the  tear  of  anguish,  and  from  the  cold  forehead 
the  dew  of  death. 

This  is  not  unmerited  praise.  I  have  too  much 
respect  for  the  character  of  woman,  to  use,  even  else 
where,  the  language  of  adulation,  and  too  much  self- 
respect  to  use  such  language  here.  I  would  not,  if 
I  could,  persuade  those  of  the  sex  who  hear  me,  to 
become  the  public,  clamorous  advocates  of  even 
temperance.  It  is  the  influence  of  their  declared  ap 
probation  ;  of  their  open,  willing,  visible  example, 
enforced  by  that  soft,  persuasive,  colloquial  elo 
quence,  which,  in  some  hallowed  retirement  and 
chosen  moments,  exerts  such  controlling  influence 
over  the  hard,  cold  heart  of  man,  especially  over  a 
husband's,  a  son's,  or  a  brother's  heart ;  it  is  this  in 
fluence  which  we  need ; — an  influence  chiefly  known 
by  the  gradual,  kindly  transformation  of  character  it 
produces,  and  which,  in  its  benign  effects,  may  be 
compared  to  the  noiseless,  balmy  influence  of  Spring, 
shedding,  as  it  silently  advances,  renovation  over 
every  hill,  and  dale,  and  glen,  and  islet,  and  changing, 


THE   EMPIRE    OF   WOMAN.  277 

throughout  the  whole  region  of  animated  nature, 
Winter's  rugged  and  unsightly  forms,  into  the  forms 
of  vernal  lovliness  and  beauty. 

No,  I  repeat  it,  I  would  not,  if  I  could,  persuade 
those  of  the  sex  who  hear  me,  to  become  the  public, 
clamorous  advocates  of  temperance.  It  is  not  yours 
to  wield  the  club  of  Hercules  or  bend  Achilles'  bow. 
But,  though  it  is  not,  still  you  have  a  heaven-ap 
pointed  armour,  as  well  as  a  heaven-approved  theatre 
of  action.  The  look  of  tenderness,  the  eye  of  com 
passion,  the  lip  of  entreaty,  are  yours ;  and  yours, 
too,  are  the  decisions  of  taste,  and  yours  the  omni 
potence  of  fashion.  You  can  therefore, — I  speak  of 
those  who  have  been  the  favorites  of  fortune,  and 
who  occupy  the  high  places  of  society, — you  can 
change  the  terms  of  social  intercourse  and  alter  the 
current  opinions  of  community.  You  can  remove, 
at  once  and  forever,  temptation  from  the  saloon,  the 
drawing-room  and  the  dining-table.  This  is  your 
empire,  the  empire  over  which  God  and  the  usages 
of  mankind  have  given  you  dominion.  Here,  within 
these  limits,  and  without  transgressing  that  modesty 
which  is  heaven's  own  gift  and  woman's  brightest 
ornament,  you  may  exert  a  benign  and  kindly  but 
mighty  influence.  Here  you  have  but  to  speak  the 
word,  and  one  chief  source  of  the  mother's,  the 
wives',  and  the  widow's  sorrows,  will,  throughout 
the  circle  in  which  you  move,  be  dried  up  forever. 
Nor,  throughout  that  circle  only.  The  families 
around  you  and  beneath  you  will  feel  the  influence 
of  your  example,  descending  on  them  in  blessings 

NOTT.  24 


278  A   MIGHTY  TRIUMPH. 

like  the  dews  of  Heaven  that  descend  on  the  moun 
tains  of  Zion ;  and  drunkenness,  loathsome,  brutal 
drunkenness,  driven  by  the  moral  power  of  your  de 
cision,  from  all  the  abodes  of  reputable  society,  will 
be  compelled  to  exist,  if  it  exist  at  all,  only  among 
those  vulgar  and  ragged  wretches,  who,  shunning 
the  society  of  woman,  herd  together  in  the  bar-room, 
the  oyster  cellar  and  the  groggery. 

This,  indeed,  were  a  mighty  triumph,  and  this,  at 
least,  you  can  achieve.  Why,  then,  should  less  than 
this  be  achieved  ?  To  purify  the  conscience,  to  bind 
up  the  broken-hearted,  to  remove  temptation  from 
the  young,  to  minister  consolation  to  the  aged,  and 
kindle  joy  in  every  bosom  throughout  her  appointed 
theatre  of  action,  befits  alike  a  woman's  and  a 
mother's  agency, — and  since  God  has  put  it  in  your 
power  to  do  so  much,  are  you  willing  to  be  responsible 
for  the  consequences  of  leaving  it  undone  ? 

Are  you  willing  to  see  this  tide  of  woe  and  death, 
whose  flow  you  might  arrest,  roll  onward  by  you  to 
posterity,  increasing  as  it  rolls  forever? 

0  !  no,  you  are  not,  I  am  sure  you  are  not ;  and  if 
not,  then,  ere  you  leave  these  altars,  lift  up  your 
heart  to  God,  and,  in  his  strength,  form  the  high 
resolve  to  purify  from  drunkenness  this  city.  And, 
however  elsewhere  others  may  hesitate,  and  \vaver, 
and  defer,  and  temporize,  take  you  the  open,  noble 
stand  of  ABSTINENCE  ;  and,  having  taken  it,  cause  it 
by  your  words,  and  by  your  deeds,  to  be  known  on 
earth  and  told  in  Heaven,  that  mothers  here  have 
dared  to  do  their  duty,  their  whole  duty,  and  that, 


EFFECTS   OF   TEMPERANCE.  279 

within  the  precincts  of  that  consecrated  spot  ovei 
which  their  balmy,  hallowed  influence  extends,  the 
doom  of  drunkenness  is  sealed. 

Nor  mothers  only ;  in  this  benign  and  holy  enter 
prise,  the  daughter  and  the  mother  alike  are 
interested. 

Ye  young,  might  the  speaker  be  permitted  to 
address  you,  as  well  as  your  honored  parents,  and 
those  teachers,  their  assistants,  whose  delightful  task 
it  is  to  bring  forward  the  unfolding  germs  of  thought, 
and  teach  the  young  idea  how  to  shoot — might  the 
speaker,  whose  chief  concernment  hitherto  has  been 
the  education  of  the  young,  be  permitted  to  address 
you,  he  would  bespeak  your  influence,  your  urgent, 
persevering  influence,  in  behalf  of  a  cause  so  pure, 
so  full  of  mercy,  and  so  every  way  befitting  your  age, 
your  sex,  your  character. 

O  !  could  the  speaker  make  a  lodgment,  an  effec 
tual  lodgment,  in  behalf  of  temperance,  within  those 
young,  warm,  generous,  active  hearts  within  his  hear 
ing,  or  rather  within  the  city  where  it  is  his  privilege 
to  speak,  who  this  side  Heaven  could  calculate  the 
blessed,  mighty,  enduring  consequence?  Could  this 
be  done,  then  might  the  eye  of  angels  rest  with 
increased  complacency  on  this  commercial  metro 
polis,*  already  signalized  by  Christian  charity,  as  well 
as  radiant  with  intellectual  glory  ; — but  then  lit  up 
anew  with  fire  from  off  virtue's  own  altar,  and  thus 
caused  to  become,  amid  the  surrounding  desolation 

*  Philadelphia. 


2SO  RESULTS. 

which  intemperance  has  occasioned,  more  conspicu 
ously  than  ever,  an  asylum  of  mercy  to  the  wretched 
and  a  beacon  light  of  promise  to  the  wanderer. 

Then  from  this  favored  spot,  as  from  some  great 
central  source  of  power,  encouragement  might  be 
given  and  confidence  imparted  to  the  whole  sister 
hood  of  virtue,  and  a  redeeming  influence  sent  forth, 
through  many  a  distant  town  and  hamlet,  to  mingle 
with  other  and  kindred  influences  in  effecting  through 
out  the  land,  among  the  youth  of  both  sexes,  that 
moral  renovation  called  for,  and  which,  when  realized, 
will  be  at  once  the  earnest  and  the  anticipation  of 
millennial  glory. 

0 !  could  we  gain  the  young, — the  young  who  have 
no  inveterate  prejudices  to  combat,  no  established 
habits  to  overcome ;  could  we  gain  the  young,  we 
might,  after  a  single  generation  had  passed  away, 
shut  up  the  dram-shop,  the  bar-room  and  the  rum 
selling  grocery,  and,  by  shutting  these  up,  shut  up 
also  the  poor-house,  the  prison-house,  and  one  of  the 
broadest  and  most  frequented  avenues  to  the  charnel 
house. 

More  than  this,  could  we  shut  up  these  licensed 
dispensaries  of  crime,  disease  and  death,  we  might 
abate  the  severity  of  maternal  anguish,  restore 
departed  joys  to  conjugal  affection,  silence  the  cry 
of  deserted  orphanage,  and  procure  for  the  poor 
demented  suicide  a  respite  for  self-inflicted  vengeance. 

This,  the  gaining  of  the  young  to  abstinence,  would 
constitute  the  mighty  fulcrum  on  which  to  plant 


RESULTS.  281 

that  moral  lever  of  power,  to  raise  a  world  from 
degradation. 

0  !  how  the  clouds  would  scatter,  the  prospect 
brighten,  and  the  firmament  of  hope  clear  up,  could 
the  young  be  gained,  intoxicating  liquors  be  banished, 
and  abstinence  with  its  train  of  blessings  introduced 
throughout  the  earth. 

NOTT.  *24 


APPENDIX. 


283 


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LETTER 


FROM 


MR.  DELAVAN  TO  GOVERNOR  KING. 


OFFICE  NEW- YORK  STATE  TEMPERANCE  SOCIETY, 
ALBANY,  N.  Y.,  JANUARY  21sr,  1857. 

To  His  Excellency  JOHN  A.  KING, 

Governor  of  the  State  of  New -York: 

DEAR  SIR — Your  elevation  to  the  high  and  responsible 
station  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Empire  State,  so 
greatly  multiplies  your  influence  over  all  classes  and  ages  of 
your  fellow-citizens,  that  I  confess  myself  desirous  that  your 
sympathies  and  active  cooperation  should  be  enlisted  on  the 
side  of  the  cause  of  Temperance.  With  this  motive,  I  take 
the  liberty  to  ask  you  to  read  this  communication,  which 
cites  a  part  of  the  proofs  that  this  movement  has  already 
achieved  very  considerable  results  for  the  public  good.  I  lay 
these  facts  before  you  with  more  encouragement  and  hope, 
because  I  am  of  the  impression  that,  to  statements  which  are 
honestly  submitted,  you  will  listen  with  candor,  even  when 
you  are  not  prepared  to  endorse  the  reasoning  and  inferences 
which  accompany  them.  It  is  by  calm  and  kind  appeals  to 
the  judgments  and  consciences  of  men,  that  so  many,  both  of 


298  APPENDIX. 

the  humble  and  the  great,  have  been  brought  to  advocate 
and  support  the  cause  of  Abstinence  and  Prohibition.  And 
it  is  on  such  means  that  the  friends  of  the  cause  should  rely 
to  bring  distinguished  public  men,  like  your  Excellency, 
among  the  number. 

EFFECTS    OF    PROHIBITION    ON    CRIME    IN    NEW-YORK. 

When  some  of  our  opponents  survey  the  field  as  it  is  now, 
they  say  that  there  never  was  more  selling  in  the  State  than 
at  present,  and  that  therefore  all  the  efforts  of  Temperance 
men  have  wrought  no  good,  but  have  made  even  matters 
worse.  But  this  is  not  fair.  They  should  revert  to  the 
period  when  the  Prohibitory  Law  was  in  force,  by  which  the 
commitments  for  crime  in  this  State  were  reduced  two-fifths 
from  the  number  under  the  License  Law.  The  operations  of 
the  Prohibitory  Law  were  such,  that  during  the  six  months 
after  it  came  in  force,  there  were  in  nine  counties  but  2898 
commitments  for  crime,  compared  with  4960  in  the  same 
counties  during  the  same  period  under  the  License  Law. 
The  fearful  and  sudden  increase  in  drunkenness  since  that 
law  was  laid  prostrate,  so  far  from  proving  that  the  efforts 
of  Temperance  men  are  of  no  avail,  only  demonstrates  the 
deplorable  effects  of  thwarting  those  efforts.  For  if  that  law 
had  been  sustained  by  the  Court  of  Appeals,  as  it  had  already 
been  by  a  majority  of  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
what  a  vast  abatement  would  it  by  this  time  have  wrought 
in  Intemperance,  Pauperism  and  Crime  !  And  perhaps  the 
disastrous  consequences  which  resulted  from  annulling  that 
law  were  necessary  to  work  a  complete  conviction  of  the 
wisdom  and  policy  of  Prohibition. 

But  the  enactment,  and  the  temporary  enforcement  of  the 
Prohibitory  Law  in  this  State,  and  the  enactment  and  per 
manent  enforcement  of  such  a  law  in  Connecticut,  Vermont, 


APPENDIX.  299 

New  Hampshire,  and  other  States,  is  only  one  of  the  fruits 
of  the  Temperance  Reform. 

It  was  stated  by  the  Executive  Committee  of  this  Society, 
in  their  Report*  to  the  Meeting  on  the  18th  of  December, 
that  "  during  the  twenty-nine  years  since  your  Society  was 
organized,  such  a  reformation  has  been  wrought  in  the  habits 
of  the  civilized  world  as  has  never  before  been  witnessed  in 
the  same  length  of  time."  I  think  that  facts  will  fully  bear 
out  this  statement. 

LIQUORS    ON    THE    TABLE    AND    SIDE-BOARD. 

1.  When   the  Temperance   Reform   began,   thirty   years 
ago,  every  family  who  could  afford  it  had  intoxicating  liquors 
on  the  table  and  side-board.     These  included  not  only  wine, 
but  brandy  and  rum.     Every  guest  and  every  caller  was  in 
vited  to  drink,  and  it  was  about  as  uncivil  not  to  drink  as 
not  to  invite  to  drink.     In  this  respect  the  usages  of  society 
have  undergone  a  striking  change.     The  family  tables  which 
have  liquors  are  now  the  exception.     In  many  of  these  cases 
they  are  furnished  only  when  guests  are  present,   and  the 
liquors  are  almost  universally  limited  to  wines. 

DRINKING    USAGES    AMONG     FARMERS. 

2.  Hardly  a  farm  in  the  land  was  worked  without  spirits ; 
and  such  a  case  was  a  matter  of  remark,  and  was  pointed  to 
as  an  evidence  of  niggardliness  in  the  owner.     It  would  now 
be  a  matter  of  unfavorable  remark,  if  a  farmer  should  furnish 
his  workmen  with  intoxicating  liquors.     Not  one  in  a  thou 
sand,  if  one  in  ten  thousand  does  it. 

*  See  Prohibitionist  for  December,  1856,  p.  90,  vol.  iii. 


300  APPENDIX. 

3.  Every  farmer,  having  an  orchard,  had  a  cider  mill,  or 
used  his  neighbor's.      Cider  was  as  plenty  in  the  farmer's 
cellar,  as  water  in  his  well ;  and  it  was  drank  in  place  of 
water  by  men,  women  and  children.     The  falling  off  in  the 
use  of  cider  is,  of  itself,  a  striking  and  conclusive  proof  of  the 
revolution  which  the  Temperance  Reform  has  wrought  in  the 
drinking  usages  of  society. 

4.  Intoxicating   liquors  were  almost  universally  brought 
into  our  workshops.     Now,  almost  never. 

AMONG    SAILORS    AND    TRAVELERS. 

5.  Time  was  when  nearly  every  merchant  vessel  which 
sailed  on   the  ocean,  the   rivers  or   lakes,  furnished   spirit 
rations  to  the  men.     I  doubt  if  any  do  so  now.     This  change 
is  very  marked  as  to  fishery  and  whaling  ships ;  a  class  of 
facts  which,  a  mutual  friend  informs  me,  your  Excellency  is 
well  acquainted  with. 

6.  When  the  ocean  steamships  began  to  cross  the  Atlantic, 
their  tables  were  supplied  with  spirits  as  free  as  water.     This 
was  the  case  in  the  Great  Western,  when  I  crossed  in  her,  in 
one  of  her  earliest  voyages,  in  1839.     When  off  Great  Britain, 
the  passengers  held  a  meeting  (Lord  Lenox  in  the  chair), 
and,  to  the  number  of  one  hundred  and  twenty,  signed  a 
petition  to  the  owners,  at  Bristol,  requesting  them  to  discon 
tinue  this  custom.     It  happened,  to  the  undersigned,  to  be 
appointed  to  present  said  petition.     I  did  so ;  and  the  liquors 
disappeared  thereafter  from  the  table.     I  believe  every  steam 
ship  now  adopts  the  same  rule. 

7.  At  the  period  referred  to,  there  was  not  a  hotel  table  or 
steamboat  table  at  which  ardent  spirits  were  not  furnished 
free.     It  would  have  been  considered  as  unfurnished,  as  if  it 
was  without  bread  or  salt.     Now  there  is  not  a  public  table 
in  the  land  where  intoxicating  liquor  is  furnished  gratuitously. 


APPENDIX.  301 

And  probably  not  one  person  out  01  uventy,  at  our  public 
tables,  calls  for  such  liquors. 

REFORMATION  OF  THE  DRUNKARD. 

8.  When  the  reform  began,  it  was  thought  that  moderation 
would  save  the  drunkard.     Since  that  time,  even  temperance 
advocates  have  supposed  that  the  avoidance  of  ardent  spirits 
would  save  him.     Now  it  is  pretty  generally  admitted,  on  all 
hands,   that   the  drunkard   is   safe  only  when   he   abstains 
entirely  from  all  liquors,  wines  included.     It  being  admitted 
that  abstinence  is  of  vital  consequence  to  the  drunkard,  it 
follows  that  it  is  the  duty  of  others  to  abstain,  so  as  not  only 
to  remove  every  temptation,  but  to  strengthen  him  by  the 
force  of  example. 

9.  The  testimony  of  convicts  that  their  crime  began  with 
drink ;  and  of  drunkards  generally,  that  they  learned  the 
habit  from  their  parents,  or  from  the  example  of  professing 
Christians,  have  united  with   science  to  impress   upon   all 
parents,  and  all   good  men,  the  solemn  conviction  that  as 
Abstinence  is  the  only  safe  practice  for  themselves,  so  it  is 
the  only  proper  example  for  others. 

PUBLIC    SENTIMENT    AS    TO    THEIR    HEALTHFULNESS. 

10.  The   belief  that  all  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a 
beverage  is  injurious,  and  never  beneficial,  has  pretty  generally 
taken  the  place  of  the  idea  that  the  moderate  use  of  it  is  safe, 
and  almost  entirely  of  the  error  that  such  liquors  are  essen 
tial  to  health  as  a  beverage. 

11.  Since    the    Temperance    agitation    commenced,    the 
most  eminent  physicians  of  this  and  other  countries  have  de 
clared  by  thousands  that  intoxicating  liquors  are  not  only 
unnecessary  as  a  beverage,  but  positively  injurious.      That 
even  in  sickness  it  is  rarely  necessary ;  while  in  health  it  is 

NOTT.  26 


302  APPENDIX. 

always  injurious,  impairing  the  functions  of  the  brain,  the 
stomach,  and  indeed  the  whole  human  organism.* 

IN    CONNECTION    WITH    RELIGIOUS    SOLEMNITIES. 

12.  Thirty  years  ago,  liquors  were  brought  forward  as  a 
matter  of  course,  at  weddings,  at  christenings,  and  even  at 
funerals.     After  burial,  the  friends  returned  to  the  house  of 
the  mourners  to  drink.     Now  intoxicating  liquors  are  the  ex 
ception  at  weddings,  seldom  furnished  at  christenings,   and 
almost  never  at  funerals. 

13.  It  used  to  be  thought  that  the  Bible  favored  the  use 
of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage.     Now  the  idea  is  ex 
tensively  prevalent  that  where  the  Bible  approves  of  wine  as 
a  beverage,  it  means  the  unintoxicating  wine  of  the  cluster, 
the  press,  and  the  vat,  while  intoxicating  wine  is  condemned 
as  "  the  mocker." 

14.  When  fifteen  years  ago  I  instituted  an  inquiry  as  to 
the  kind  of  wine,  intoxicating  or  unintoxicating,  which  it  was 
proper  to  be  used  at  the  Communion,  great  numbers  of 
church  members  were  sorely  troubled  for  fear  of  harm  to  the 
solemn  rites  of  Religion.     Very  many  journals,  both  religious 

*  Since  this  letter  was  written,  the  following  resolution,  which  goes 
beyond  any  expression  which  has  heretofore  emanated  from  any  large 
body  of  the  Faculty,  was  passed  unanimously  by  the  Medical  Society 
of  the  State  of  New  York,  4th  February,  1857  : 

"  Resolved — That  in  view  of  the  ravages  made  upon  the  morals, 
health  and  property  of  the  people  of  this  State  by  the  use  of  alcoholic 
drinks,  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  Medical  Society  that  the  moral,  sani 
tary  and  pecuniary  condition  of  the  State  would  be  promoted  by  the 
passage  of  a  Prohibitory  Liquor  Law." 

For  a  detailed  account  of  this  important  event  in  the  Temperance 
world,  and  which,  strange  to  say,  was  not  even  mentioned  in  any 
newspaper  report  of  the  society's  proceedings,  see  the  Prohibitionist 
for  March,  1857,  vol.  iv.,  p.  20. 


APPENDIX.  303 

and  political,  denounced  the  movement.  Within  a  few 
months  I  have  caused,  on  my  own  responsibility,  some  20,000 
pamphlets  to  be  issued  on  the  same  subject,  and  not  one 
word  of  disapprobation  has  yet  reached  me. 

HABITS    AND    SENTIMENTS     OF   THE    CLERGY. 

15.  An  aged  Divine,  now  living,  well  acquainted  with  the 
clergy  in  Albany  and  vicinity,  once  drew  my  attention  to  the 
fact  that,  some  thirty  years  ago,  every  clergyman  when  he 
made  his  pastoral  visits  was  invited  to  drink.  If  he  visited 
twenty  of  his  parishioners,  he  was  invited  to  drink,  and  some 
times  did  drink,  twenty  times.  The  same  Divine  found  that 
fifty  per  cent  of  the  clergy,  within  a  circuit  of  fifty  miles,  died 
drunkards.*  Now  it  is  only  a  small  proportion  of  the  clergy 


*  A  writer  in  the  New-York  Observer  questions  the  correctness  of 
the  statement  of  an  aged  clergyman  in  Albany  to  Mr.  Delavan,  that 
a  minister  of  former  days  was  exposed  in  twenty  visits  in  a  day  to 
twenty  strong  drinks,  and  that  fifty  per  cent  of  the  ministers  in  a 
circuit  of  fifty  miles  were  drunkards.  As  to  the  first,  every  man 
living,  who  was  in  the  ministry  in  1820,  knows  it  was  true.  Good 
Dr.  Fisher  said,  in  conversing  on  this  subject  a  little  before  his  death, 
that  it  was  the  greatest  wonder  he  was  not  a  drunkard ;  he  was  in  his 
early  ministry  so  forced  to  drink,  lest  he  should,  by  refusal,  offend 
his  parishioners.  The  mug  of  cider  or  brandy  sling  were  brought 
out  at  every  house.  As  to  the  proportion  of  intemperate  ministers, 
this  is,  no  doubt,  in  general,  incorrect ;  though  it  was  not,  as  can  be 
confirmed  by  men  living  as  far  back  as  1810,  in  some  of  our  cities. 
And  there  was  no  reason  why  it  should  not  be  so.  Ministers  have 
the  same  flesh  and  blood  and  nerves  with  other  men ;  and  if  they 
will  drink  poison,  why  should  they  not  suffer  1  "  Can  a  minister  take 
fire  in  his  bosom  and  not  be  burned  1  Can  he  walk  on  hot  coals  and 
his  feet  not  be  burned  V'  Thanks  be  to  Him  who  takes  care  of 
his  church,  that  the  ministry  have  been  pulled  from  the  fire ;  though 
sad  it  is,  that  some  are  yet  trifling  with  it,  and  are  boasting  how 
strong  they  are. — Journal  of  the  American  Temperance  Union. 


304  APPENDIX. 

who  drink  a  drop ;  and  those  who  do  drink  show  themselves 
extremely  sensitive  when  the  fact  is  alluded  to  in  print,  as  if 
they  regarded  it  as  a  reflection  upon  their  standing  as 
Ministers  of  the  Gospel. 

16.  It  is  thirty  years  since,  at  a  large  assembly  of  the 
Ministers  of  the  Gospel,  in  New  England,  one  of  their  number, 
impressed  with  the  evils  of  the  Drink-System,  urged  them  to 
adopt  a  resolution  pledging  themselves  to  abstain — not  from 
wines — but  from  Ardent  Spirits,  while  at  the  convention.  It 
failed.  These  pious  and  devoted  clergymen  could  not  see  why 
they  should  be  called  upon  to  give  up  a  "good  creature  of 
God."  Now  there  are  vast  religious  bodies,  who,  were  they  to 
see  one  of  their  ministers  drink  intoxicating  liquors,  would  be 
affected  almost  as  much  as  if  they  were  to  hear  him  swear. 

FASHION THE    PRESS. 

1 T.  Though  few  of  the  rich  and  fashionable  have  openly 
professed  adherence  to  the  Temperance  cause,  yet  many  now 
express  their  sympathy  with  it  and  are  beginning  to  aid  it 
pecuniarily,  as  a  movement  which  inures  to  the  public  good. 
Many  of  our  most  distinguished  citizens  have  lately  given 
large  social  entertainments  without  wine ;  and  this  is  not  so 
significant,  as  that  public  opinion  sustains  and  applauds  it. 

18.  There  was  a  time  when  the  Temperance  movement 
was  the  common  theme  of  ridicule  with  the  press.     Now 
there  are  but  few  journals,  even  those  which  are  opposed  to 
Prohibition,  which  do  not  approve  voluntary  abstinence,  and 
which  do  not  compliment  private  citizens,  or  public  bodies, 
who  give  entertainments  without  intoxicating  liquors. 

19.  The  spirit-ration  has  been  abolished  in  the  army.    I 
am  of  the  impression  too  that  it  has  been  diminished  in  the 
navy. 


APPENDIX.  305 

MANUFACTURING-    ESTABLISHMENTS. 

20.  Before  the  Temperance  Reform  began,  and  while  we 
were  ignorant  of  the  nature  and   effects  of  strong  drink, 
Nathaniel  Prime,  Lynde  Catlin,  and  others,  myself  among 
the  number,  formed  a  chartered  company,  with  a  capital  of 
$300,000,  for  the  manufacture  of  steam  engines  and  other 
heavy  iron  work.     Thinking  to  do  good  to  the  workmen,  and 
further  the  objects  of  the  company,  we  directed  that  strong- 
beer  should  be  passed,  gratis,  to  every  man  two  or  three  times 
a  day.      We  soon  found  that  our  work  was  badly  done, 
almost  every  contract  was  in  consequence  litigated  in  the 
courts,  and  the  company  failed ;  by  which  failure  the  com 
pany  not  only  sunk  the  whole  capital  of  $300,000,  but  (to 
save  their  own  credit)  ten  of  the  stockholders  contributed  ten 
thousand  dollars  each,  to  pay  off  further  liabilities,  of  which 
eight  thousand  dollars  of  my    contribution   (including  my 
whole  stock)  proved  a  dead  loss.     On  a  review  of  the  whole 
subject,  I  firmly  believe  that  this  catastrophe  is  mainly  ascrib- 
able  to  the  unfortunate  drinking  habits  which,  from  the  best 
of  motives,  we  ourselves  encouraged. 

21.  Another  company,  formed  to  manufacture  nearly  the 
same  kind  of  article,  and  who  employed  about  100  workmen, 
had  their  attention  drawn  to  the  evils  of  strong  drink  among 
operatives.     One  of  the  partners  drew  up  a  Total  Abstinence 
Pledge,  signed  it,  and  induced   nearly  every  workman  to 
adopt  the  same  principle.     When  the  step  was  taken,  hardly 
one  of  the  workmen  was  beforehand  in  the  world,  and  many 
were   in   debt.      After   four    years   upon   the   Temperance 
principle,  none  were  in  debt,  and  many  had  bought  lots  of 
land,  and  erected  cottages  for  their  families  ;  and  one  of  the 
partners  told  me  that  the  aggregate  amount  saved  by  these 
100  men  during  the  four  years  since  they  abandoned  strong 

NOTT.  *26 


306  APPENDIX. 

drink,  would  make  capital  enough  to  carry  on  the  business 
operations  of  the  company. 

EFFECTS    OF    THE    REFORM    ON    NATIONAL    WEALTH. 

22.  A  manufacturer  who  employed  300  hands,  informed 
me  that  after    they  all,  or  nearly  all,   adopted  the  Total 
Abstinence  principle,  the  prosperity  of  the  establishment  was 
vastly  promoted,  and  that  their  improved  steadiness,  fidelity 
and  style  of  workmanship  were  as  good  to  him  as  a  protective 
duty  of  twenty-five  per  cent.     At  this  rate,  what  sums  have 
accrued  to  the  National  wealth  from  the  adoption  of  Temper 
ance  principles  by  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  abstainers ! 

23.  The  late  Abbott  Lawrence,  that  merchant  prince  and 
public  benefactor,  and  late  United  States  Minister  to  the 
Court  of  St.  James,  was  asked,   before   he  died,  what   had 
occasioned  the  great  increase  in  wealth  and  prosperity  in  the 
United  States  ?     He  instantly  replied :  "  Our  prosperity,  in 
my  opinion,  is  greatly  owing  to  the  Temperance  Reformation. 
The  influence  of  this  movement  is  felt  in  the  work-shop,  on 
the  farm,  and  in  every  branch  of  human  industry.     Before 
the  Temperance  Reform  was  started,  a  vast  number  of  the 
farms  in  New  England  were  mortgaged  for  rum  bills, — now 
hardly  one." 

24.  Until  the  subject  of  Temperance  was  agitated,  the  frauds 
of  the  liquor  traffic  were  not  suspected.     All  liquors  were 
supposed  to  be  what  they  pretended  to  be.     Now  the  matter 
of  adulteration,  though  but  partially  understood  yet,  is  the 
theme  of  common  conversation  even  among  drinkers. 

25.  When  the  Temperance    Reform  commenced  in  this 
State  there  were  about  1100  flour  mills,  and  more  than  that 
number  of  distilleries.     The  population  has  about  doubled 
since  that  time,  and  now  there  are  1464  flour  mills  and  only 
88   distilleries.     It  must  be   admitted,   however,   that  the 


APPENDIX,  307 

distilleries  now  in  operation  are  on  a  much  larger  scale  than 
the  average  of  those  of  the  former  period. 

CLASSES    OF    DEALERS    WHO    HAVE     LEFT    THE    TRAFFIC. 

26.  Of  the  great  number  of  native  citizens  in  the  United 
States  who  used  to  sell  intoxicating  liquors,  a  vast  number 
have  left  the  business.     The  Temperance  agitation  has  edu 
cated  them  to  regard  the  traffic  as  immoral  and  degrading. 
It  is  found  in  the  great  cities  that  seven  out  of  eight  of  all  who 
sell  liquor  are  foreign  emigrants.      The  great  majority  of 
those  who  now  sell  liquor  in  America  are  a  proof,  not  that 
the  Temperance  Reform  does  nothing,  but  of  what  the  moral 
sense  of  our  countrymen  would  have  been  on  this  subject,  at 
this  time,  had  this  Reform  never  been  agitated. 

27.  Formerly,  church  members  and  church  officers  of  all 
our  churches  used  to  be  engaged  in  the  traffic ;  now,  vast 
bodies  of  them  denounce  the  traffic  as  an  immorality ;  and 
the  number  of  church  members,  American  born  citizens,  who 
make  or  sell  liquor,  is  probably  not  one  to  five  hundred  oi 
the  former  proportion. 

28.  Witness,  as  a  proof  of  the  effects  of  the  Temperance 
Reform,  the  growing  idea  that  liquor  when  offered  for  sale, 
as  a  beverage,  is  a  nuisance  to  be  abated  like  any  other 
nuisance. 

29.  What  but   the   Temperance   agitation   has   changed 
the  policy  of  so  many  States ;    substituting  laws  aiming  at 
Prohibition,  in  the  place  of  laws  which  allowed  rum  to  be 
sold  by  the  authority  of  the  State  1 

PROHIBITION    APPLIED     TO    THE    DRUNKARD. 

30.  Not  only  is  the  moderation  theory  now  abandoned, 
and  Total   Abstinence  held  to   be  essential  to   the   refor- 


308  APPENDIX. 

mation  of  the  drunkard,  but  Physicians,*  Clergymen  and 
Judges  agree  that  Asylums  should  be  established  by  the 
State  for  the  resort  of  inebriates,  where  no  strong  drinks 
can  be  procured — which,  as  far  as  the  drunkard  is  con 
cerned  (of  whom  there  are  over  50,000  in  the  State  of  New- 
York),  is  an  emphatic  endorsement  of  the  humanity  and 
necessity  of  prohibition.  The  advocates  of  Temperance  ex 
tend  the  same  principle,  and  by  a  general  enactment,  pro 
hibiting  the  sale  of  liquors  throughout  the  State,  aim  to 
remove  the  temptation  from  all  who  have  this  habit  partially 
formed,  as  well  as  those  who  have  it  fully  formed,  and  so, 
by  the  united  influence  of  moral  and  legal  suasion,  aim  to 
create  such  an  asylum  in  every  household  in  the  land. 

These  facts  and  illustrations  might  be  greatly  extended, 
but  I  forbear.  Enough  has  been  said  to  indicate  a  vast 
improvement  in  the  drinking  usages  of  society. 

THE    NEXT    STEP    IN    THE    REFORM. 

But  it  will  be  said,  if  the  Temperance  agitation  has  done 
so  much,  why  not  go  right  on  in  the  old  way,  without  a  re 
sort  to  legislation.  The  same  question  might  be  asked  of 
gambling,  of  lotteries  and  of  duelling.  A  stage  is  at  last 
reached,  where  legislative  enactments  are  essential.  Not  that 
moral  suasion  is  to  be  abandoned,  but,  in  addition  to  this,  the 
public  sentiment  regarding  these  evils  must  be  embodied  into 
statutory  enactments.  Of  this,  those  who  have  used  moral 
suasion  most,  and  with  the  greatest  success,  are  the  most 


*  The  following  resolution  was  adopted  by  the  Medical  Society  of 
the  State  of  New- York,  on  the  4th  of  February,  1817 : 

"  Resolved,  That  this  Society  commend  the  object  sought  to  be 
attained  by  the  project  for  an  Asylum  for  Inebriates,  to  the  favor  and 
earnest  support,  not  only  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  but  to  the 
•oublic  at  large." 


APPENDIX.  309 

profoundly  convinced.  After  obtaining  millions  of  signatures 
to  tlie  Total  Abstinence  Pledge,  Ireland  was  ripe  for  Prohibi 
tion.  But  it  was  not  applied.  The  golden  opportunity  was 
lost;  and  the  consequence  is,  that  nearly  as  much  liquor  is 
drank  in  Ireland,  now  as  before  Father  Mathew  commenced 
his  remarkable  labors.  The  language  of  this  beloved  and  re 
nowned  Apostle  of  Temperance,  penned  a  year  or  two  before 
his  death,  and  published  in  the  Prohibitionist  for  July,  1855, 
should  teach  a  solemn  lesson  to  the  world  on  the  subject 
of  Temperance : 

"  The  question  of  prohibiting  the  sale  of  ardent  spirits, 
and  the  many  other  intoxicating  drinks  which  are  to  be 
found  in  our  country,  is  not  new  to  me ;  the  principle  of 
Prohibition  seems  to  me  to  be  the  only  safe  and  certain  remedy 
for  the  evils  of  Intemperance.  This  opinion  has  been 
strengthened  and  confirmed  by  the  hard  labor  of  more  than 
twenty  years  in  the  Temperance  cause.  I  rejoice  in  the 
welcome  intelligence  of  the  formation  of  a  Maine  Law 
Alliance,  which  I  trust  will  be  the  means  under  God  of 
destroying  this  fruitful  source  of  Crime  and  Pauperism." 

The  friends  of  Prohibition  in  Great  Britain  are  now  making 
up  for  lost  time ;  they  are  pressing  on  steadily,  firmly  and 
perseveringly,  and  the  triumph  of  Prohibition  is  only  a 
question  of  time. 

OUGHT    NOT    EVERY    GOOD    MAN    TO    COOPERATE  ? 

When  the  Temperance  Societies  began,  the  general  view 
of  religious  men  was,  that  the  work  should  be  done  through 
the  churches.  I  submit  that,  in  the  main,  what  has  been 
done,  has  been  done  by  the  churches.  The  Temperance 
Reform  originated  in  the  churches.  If  I  may  refer  to  myself 
in  this  connection,  it  was  a  devout  and  learned  minister  of 
the  Gospel  who  converted  me  to  the  movement.  If,  since 


310  APPENDIX. 

that  time,  I  have  been  enabled  to  do  more  in  my  way  than 
some  of  my  fellow  citizens,  it  is  only  because  Providence  has 
placed  me  in  circumstances  to  do  so.  But  it  is  the  fervent, 
effectual  prayer  of  the  righteous,  and  the  widow's  mite, 
offered  in  faith,  which  points  to  the  secret  of  the  success  of 
Temperance.  Nor  can  I  ever  review  the  history  of  this 
benign  and  arduous  enterprise  without  being  deeply  and 
profoundly  penetrated  with  the  conviction,  that  the  great 
motive  power,  from  the  first  and  always,  has  been  the  Grace 
and  Spirit  of  Almighty  God,  as  shed  abroad  in  the  hearts  of 
thousands  of  His  pious  servants,  both  men  and  women,  and 
who  are  to  be  found  in  all  religious  denominations  throughout 
the  Christian  world. 

It  is  the  religious  sentiment  of  the  country;  it  is  the 
divine  principle  of  self-denial,  taught  by  our  blessed  Savior, 
which  has  wrought  whatever  has  been  done  for  this  reform, 
and  which  I  have  ever  regarded  as  the  handmaid  of  Religion. 
There  are  good  men  who  still  think  this  work  should  be 
restricted  to  the  churches,  or  perhaps  to  their  own  particular 
church.  I  put  it  to  their  hearts,  would  they  go  back  to 
where  we  were  thirty  years  ago  ?  Would  they  have  undone 
what  has  been  done  ?  And  ought  not  every  believer  in 
Christianity,  to  whatever  particular  church  he  may  belong, 
to  unite  as  one  man — in  pressing  forward  with  yet  greater 
vigor,  with  the  united  energy  of  faith  and  prayer  and  works, 
by  his  example,  his  influence,  and  by  contributions  of  his 
substance — the  cause  of  personal  Abstinence  and  legislative 
Prohibition  ?  And  if  this  is  true  of  the  Christian  in  private 
life,  how  important  to  the  poor  drunkard,  to  his  wife,  his 
children,  and  the  whole  community,  do  such  duties  become, 
when,  as  in  the  case  of  your  Excellency,  the  private  citizen  is 
clothed  by  the  people  with  great  authority  and  official  power ! 
So  sacred  and  important  are  the  interests  at  stake,  and  so 
great  is  now  your  Excellency's  influence  for  good,  that  I  feel 


APPENDIX.  311 

that  I  Lave  not  exceeded  the  privilege  of  your  humblest 
fellow-citizen  in  attempting  to  enlist  your  personal  and  official 
cooperation  on  the  side  of  a  cause  which  has  been  so  signally 
approved  and  blessed  of  God,  and  which  redounds  so  palpably 
to  Ihe  physical,  the  moral  and  the  religious  interests  of  the 
human  family. 

I  remain,  with  great  respect,  your  Excellency's  friend  and 
obedient  servant, 

EDWARD  C.  DELAVAN, 
President  New -York  State  Temperance  Society. 


ADULTERATION  OF  LIQUORS. 

Since  the  foregoing  Lectures  were  written,  in  one  of  which 
the  adulteration  of  liquors  was  exposed,  that  nefarious 
practice  has  made  prodigious  strides,  and  it  has  been  thought 
desirable  that  the  later  developments  of  this  great  fraud 
upon  the  American  people  and  the  world  should  find  a  place 
in  this  work,  and  President  NOTT  has  suggested  that  we  add 
some  extracts,  bearing  upon  this  point,  from  the  address  of 
E.  C.  DELAVAN,  made  at  the  meeting  of  the  New-York 
State  Temperance  Society,  at  the  Capitol,  Albany,  16th  June 
1857. 

"  I  have  long  known  the  fact  that  arsenic  was  employed  in 
the  manufacture  of  whiskey,  and  the  reason  why.  Ever  since 
the  year  1833,  I  have  been  aware  of  the  horrid  adulte 
rations  that  have  been  practiced  in  the  manufacture  of  alco 
holic  drinks,  rendering  the  same,  by  the  addition  of  intense 
poisons,  still  more  injurious  to  property,  virtue,  reason  and 


312  APPENDIX. 

life,  of  which  I  have  never  from  that  year  ceased  warning 
the  public.  My  facts  have  been,  in  all  cases,  obtained 
from  the  manufacturers  themselves,  generally  after  they 
have  abandoned  the  murderous  business.  The  profit  made 
has  been  enormous.  In  one  case  an  individual  engaged 
in  the  manufacture  and  sale,  assured  me  that  his  sales  in  a 
single  year  amounted  to  33,000  barrels,  the  average  cost 
to  him  being  about  eighteen  cents  per  gallon,  while  he 
sold  it  at  a  rate  varying  from  fifty  cents  to  five  dollars  the 
gallon. 

"I  have  not  known  until  recently  of  the  use  of  that  deadly 
poison,  strychnine,  in  the  manufacture  of  whiskey.  This  is 
described  as  endowed  with  a  greater  amount  of  destructive 
energy  than  any  other  poison  except  prussic  acid.  One-third 
of  a  grain  killed  a  hog  in  ten  minutes.  It  first  produces 
agitation  and  trembling ;  these  run  into  a  general  spasm,  in 
which  the  head  is  bent  back,  the  spine  stiffened,  the  limbs 
extended  and  rigid,  and  the  respiration  interrupted  by  the 
fixing  of  the  chest.  So  powerful  are  the  spasms,  that  the 
body  sometimes  retains,  for  some  hours  after  death,  the 
attitude  and  expression  impressed  on  it  by  their  terrible 
action  during  life. 

"  This  fearfully  destructive  agent  is  used  for  the  same  pur 
pose  as  arsenic,  and  is,  to  a  great  extent,  a  substitute  for  it, 
the  great  object  being  the  largest  amount  of  whiskey  out  of 
the  least  quantity  of  grain ;  and  whether  it  kills  men,  hogs 
or  fishes,  it  makes  but  little  difference  with  the  distiller,  so 
long  as  he  can  accumulate  a  fortune  by  its  sale. 

"  I  quote  from  an  article  recently  published  in  the  Tribune : 

11  (  The  use  of  strychnine  in  the  manufacture  of  whiskey  is  hence 
forth  to  be  punished  as  a  felony  in  Ohio.  By  means  of  this  drug, 
used  in  connection  with  tobacco,  sharp  distillers  were  making  five 
gallons  of  whiskey  from  one  bushel  of  grain,  whereas  the  quantity 
obtained  by  the  old  process  was  but  half  so  much.  The  topers  never 


APPENDIX.  313 

complained  of  the  new  liquid,  but  swallowed  all  they  could  get,  and 
then  smacked  their  lips  for  more;  but  the  hogs,  not  being  so  case- 
hardened,  could  not  stand  it,  and  died  off  by  hundreds  of  what  is 
called  "  Hog  Cholera."  The  fish,  too,  in  the  rivers  into  which  the 
refuse  of  the  distilleries  was  drained,  began  to  die  off  in  shoals ;  and 
a  chemist  reported  that  a  barrel  of  this  strychnine  whiskey  contained 
poison  enough  to  kill  twenty  men.  (  So  does  a  barrel  of  any  whiskey, 
if  administered  to  produce  that  result.  )  Ohio  could  not  bear  to  have 
the  quality  of  her  poison  distrusted,  and  so  has  made  the  use  of 
strychnine,  in  whiskey,  a  state  prison  offence.  Making  the  whiskey 
without  strychnine  is  not  even  declared  a  misdemeanor  as  yet.' 

"  We  all  know  that  whiskey  is  the  basis  of  the  wine,  brandy 
and  gin  now  sold  in  the  country,  whether  imported  or 
domestic,  the  grape  having  in  a  great  measure  failed  in  wine 
producing  countries.  The  demand  for  wines  having  increased, 
the  resort  has  been  to  the  distillery  and  poisonous  prepara 
tions,  to  supply  its  place.  And  so  the  grains  of  the  earth, 
which  God  designed  for  food,  are  laid  under  contribution  for 
its  production.  Ohio,  the  great  grain-producing  state,  answers 
the  call,  and  her  distillers  worm  it  through  their  thousand 
distilleries.  But  they  are  not  content  to  furnish  the  pure 
alcoholic  poison.  They  call  upon  the  druggist,  and  by  means 
of  strychnine  and  the  decoction  of  tobacco,  double  the  effect, 
by  thus  doubling  the  poison.  This  abominable  compound  is 
exported  abroad,  but  is  soon  returned  with  such  ingredients 
as  foreign  ingenuity  can  devise,  and  after  paying  duties 
abroad  as  whiskey,  and  at  home  under  the  names  of  wine 
and  brandy,  is  sold  at  enormous  profit,  and  drank  by  all 
classes.  So  extensively  was  adulteration  practiced  in  France, 
that  the  Rev.  Dr.  BAIRD  stated  that  certain  persons  appointed 
by  government  to  test  the  purity  of  liquors  by  tasting,  were 
compelled  to  resign,  to  escape  from  death  by  poisoning. 
And  yet,  these  are  the  pure  wines  and  brandies  that  circulate 
so  freely  through  the  higher  circles,  the  only  evidence  of 

NOTT.  27 


314  APPENDIX. 

their  purity  consisting  in  the  extravagant  prices  charged  and 
paid  for  them. 

"  But  the  useless  formality  of  sending  across  the  ocean  is 
often  dispensed  with.  There  exists  ingenuity  on  this  as  well 
as  on  the  other  side  of  the  water.  This  same  Ohio  whiskey 
is  purchased  in  New-York  and  other  large  cities,  where  it  is 
easil}7  transformed  into  imported  liquors,  and  sold  as  such 
often  with  the  brands  of  the  most  celebrated  dealers. 

"So  alarmingly  extensive  is  the  evil  becoming,  that  the 
political  press  of  all  parties  is  sending  out  its  voice  of  warn 
ing  ;  and,  in  no  measured  terms,  condemning  and  denouncing 
this  wholesale  poisoning  of  the  people  by  the  makers  and 
vendors  of  these  abominable  compounds.  We  rejoice  to  see 
these  evidences  of  moral  life  in  the  political  press ;  we  hail 
them  as  proofs  that  it  is  still  mindful  of  its  duty  as  a  sentinel 
on  the  outposts  of  danger.  We  welcome  it  as  a  co-worker 
with  us  in  this  moral  reform ;  for  there  clearly  can  be  no 
perfect  escape  from  these  poisonous  compounds,  except  in 
the  adoption  and  enforcement  of  the  prohibitory  principle. 

"  I  have  called  your  attention  to  these  enormous  evils,  now 
becoming  so  generally  known  and  acknowledged,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  showing  what  kind  of  substances  our  legislature  have 
legalized  the  sale  of  by  the  license  law. 

"  It  must  be  apparent  to  all  that  there  is  but  one  mode  of 
escape,  that  of  total  abstinence,  succeeded  by  prohibition.  It 
is  idle  to  waste  time  or  thought  upon  any  half  and  half 
measures. 

"But  while  dwelling  upon  these  adulterations  and  their 
enormity,  we  ought  not  to  forget  that  alcohol  itself,  in  these 
liquors,  is  an  active  poison,  and  that  the  other  poisons  added, 
only  render  the  compound  the  more  poisonous.  Our  war 
fare  commenced  against  alcohol  alone;  we  supposed  all 
liquors  pure,  but  that  their  very  purity  was  poisonous  as  a 
beverage. 


APPENDIX.  315 

"All  medical  works  pronounce  alcohol  itself  a  poison,  and, 
like  others,  dangerous  to  health  and  life.  The  dark  array  of 
adulterations  and  poisonous  compounds  have  come  in  since, 
but  they  have  come  only  to  stimulate  us  to  stronger  efforts 
and  more  determined  perseverance  to  free  the  state  and 
the  nation  from  this  monstrous  iniquity;  and  in  view  of 
these  horrid  adulterations,  and  the  miseries  they  are  inflicting 
upon  us — demoralizing  the  people,  as  well  as  rapidly  deterio 
rating  our  race — should  not  all,  of  whatever  denomination  of 
Christians,  or  whatever  party,  having  the  love  of  God  or  man 
in  their  hearts,  arouse  themselves  and  unite  with  us  in  our 
efforts  to  arrest  and  finally  eradicate  this  great  and  growing 
evil  ?  The  question  of  the  rightfulness  of  using  pure  intoxi 
cating  liquors  as  a  beverage  should  no  longer  be  a  barrier  — 
for  none  such,  with  the  least  degree  of  certainty,  can  be  had." 


ADDRESS  ON  THE  DRINKING  USAGES  OF  SOCIETY. 

BY  A.  POTTER,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 

Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  Pennsylvania. 

WE  have  assembled,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  to  contribute  our 
aid  in  arresting  a  great  and  crying  evil.  We  do  not  aim  to 
promote  directly  that  Temperance  which  forms  one  of  the 
noblest  and  most  comprehensive  of  the  Christian  virtues. 
Our  simple  object  is  to  prevent  drunkenness,  with  its  legion 
of  ills,  by  drying  up  the  principal  sources  from  which  it  flows. 
To  one  of  these  sources,  and  that  the  most  active  and 
powerful,  I  propose  to  ask  your  attention  this  evening.  The 
occasion,  I  need  not  say,  is  a  most  worthy  one;  one  that 
merits  the  warmest  sympathy  and  support  of  every  patriot 
and  philanthropist,  of  every  follower  of  Jesus  Christ. 


316  APPENDIX. 

For  what  is  intemperance,  and  what  the  extent  and  magni 
tude  of  its  evils  ?  Of  these  we  all  know  something.  We  all 
know  how  it  diseases  the  body ;  how  it  disturbs  the  equili 
brium  of  the  intellect ;  how  it  poisons  the  springs  of  generous 
affection  in  the  heart,  and  lays  a  ruthless  hand  upon  the 
whole  moral  and  spiritual  nature.  What  drunkenness  does 
to  its  poor  victim,  and  to  those  who  are  bound  to  him  by 
the  closest  ties,  you  all  know.  All  know,  did  I  say  ?  Let 
us  thank  God  that  few  of  you  can  know,  or  are  likely  to 
know,  the  inexpressible  horrors  which  fill  the  soul  of  the 
inebriate,  or  the  gloom  and  anguish  of  heart  which  are  the 
portion  of  his  family.  You  know  enough,  however,  to  feel 
that  where  this  sin  enters,  there  a  blight  falls  on  happiness, 
virtue  and  even  hope.-  Look  at  the  palpable  shame  and 
misery  and  guilt  which  collect  within  and  about  one  drunk 
ard's  home ;  and  then  multiply  their  dreadful  sum  by  the 
whole  number  of  such  homes  which,  at  this  moment,  can  be 
found  in  this  Christian  city,  and  you  will  have  an  accumula 
tion  of  sin  and  sorrow,  even  at  your  doors,  which  no  mortal 
arithmetic  can  guage,  but  which  is  sufficient  to  appal  the 
stoutest  heart  and  move  to  sympathy  the  coldest  charity. 

But  whence  does  this  vast  and  hideous  evil  come  ?  To 
you,  as  a  jury  of  inquest,  standing  over  the  victims  it  strikes 
down,  I  appeal  for  a  verdict  according  to  truth  and  evidence. 
Can  it  be  said  that  they  who  are  now  cold  in  death,  with  a 
drunkard's  shame  branded  on  their  memory,  "  died  by  visi 
tation  of  God  ?"  God  sends  no  such  curse  even  upon  the 
guiltiest  of  his  creatures.  He  may  send  pestilence  and 
earthquake ;  he  may  send  blasting  and  mildew ;  but  he 
commissions  no  moral  plague,  like  drunkenness,  to  carry 
desolation  to  the  souls  as  well  as  bodies  of  men.  This  evil, 
alas !  is  self-invoked  and  self-inflicted. 

And  how  ?  Do  men  rush  deliberately,  and  with  full  pur 
pose  of  heart,  into  such  an  abyss  ?  Is  there  any  one  so  lost 


APPENDIX.  317 

to  self-respect,  to  all  prudence  and  duty,  so  devoid  of  every 
finer  instinct  and  sentiment  of  our  nature,  that  lie  can  wil 
lingly  sink  down  to  the  ignominy  and  the  wo  that  are  the 
drunkard's  portion?  I  tell  you  nay.  Every  human  being 
recoils,  with  involuntary  horror  and  disgust,  from  the  con 
templation  of  such  a  fate.  He  shrinks  from  it  as  he  would 
from  the  foul  embraces  of  a  serpent,  and  feels  that  he  would 
sooner  sacrifice  everything  than  take  his  place  beside  the 
bloated  and  degraded  beings  who  seem  dead  to  all  that  is 
noble  in  our  nature  or  hopeful  in  our  lot.  These  are  victims 
that  have  gone  blindfold  to  their  fate.  Gentle  is  the  declivity, 
smooth  arid  noiseless  the  descent,  which  conducts  them,  step 
by  step,  along  the  treacherous  way,  till  suddenly  their  feet 
slide,  and  they  find  themselves  plunging  over  the  awful 
precipice. 

And  what  is  that  deceitful  road  ?  Or  which  is  the  perfidious 
guide  who  stands  ever  ready  to  turn  aside  the  feet  of  the 
unwary  traveler  ?  Here,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  is  the  great 
question.  To  arrest  an  evil  effectually,  we  mnst  know  its 
nature  and  cause.  It  is  idle  to  lop  off  branches,  while  the 
trunk  stands  firm  and  full  of  life.  It  is  idle  to  destroy 
noxious  leaves  or  flowers,  while  the  plant  still  pours  forth 
its  malignant  humors  at  the  root.  If  we  would  go  to  the 
bottom  of  this  evil,  if  we  would  lay  the  axe  to  the  very  root 
of  the  baleful  tree,  we  must  see  how  and  whence  it  is  that 
unsuspecting  multitudes  are  thus  ensnared,  never  scenting 
danger  till  they  begin  to  taste  of  death. 

It  will  be  admitted,  I  presume,  by  all  who  hear  me,  that, 
if  there  were  no  temperate  drinking,  there  would  be  none 
that  is  intemperate.  Men  do  not  begin  by  what  is  usually 
called  immoderate  indulgences,  but  by  that  which  they 
regard  as  moderate.  Gradually  and  insensibly  their  draughts 
are  increased,  until  the  functions  of  life  are  permanently  dis 
turbed,  the  system  becomes  inflamed,  and  there  is  that 

NOTT.  *27 


318  APPENDIX. 

morbid  appetite  which  will  hardly  brook  restraint,  and  the 
indulgence  of  which  is  sottish  intemperance.  Let  it  be 
remembered,  then,  that  what  is  usually  styled  temperate 
drinking,  stands  as  the  condition  precedent  of  that  which 
is  intemperate.  Discontinue  one  and  the  other  becomes 
impossible. 

But  what  is  the  cause  of  moderate  or  temperate  drinking  ? 
Is  it  the  force  of  natural  appetite  ?  Rarely.  Nine-tenths,  if 
not  ninety-nine  hundredths,  of  those  who  use  alcoholic  stimu 
lants,  do  it,  in  the  first  instance,  and  often  for  a  long  time, 
not  from  appetite,  but  from  deference  to  custom  or  fashion. 
Usage  has  associated  intoxicating  drinks  with  good  fellowship 
—  with  offices  of  hospitality  and  friendship.  However  false 
and  dangerous  such  an  association  may  be,  it  is  not  surpris 
ing  that,  when  once  established,  it  continually  gathered 
strength  ;  with  some  through  appetite,  with  others  through 
interest.  It  is  in  this  way  that  what  we  term  Drinking 
Usages  have  become  incorporated  with  every  pursuit  in  life, 
with  the  tastes  and  habits  of  every  grade  and  class  of  society. 
In  the  drawing-room  and  dining-room  of  the  affluent,  in  the 
public  room  of  the  hotel,  in  every  place  of  refreshment,  in 
the  social  gatherings  of  the  poor,  in  the  harvest  field  and  the 
workshop,  alcoholic  liquor  was  at  one  time  deemed  essential. 
Too  often  it  is  deemed  so  still.  Many  a  host  and  employer, 
many  a  young  companion,  shrinks  even  now  from  the  idea 
of  exchanging  the  kind  offices  of  life  without  the  aid  of 
intoxicating  liquors,  as  he  would  shrink  from  some  sore 
offence  against  taste  and  propriety.  Not  to  put  the  cup  to 
your  neighbor's  lip,  in  one  word,  is  to  sin  against  that  most 
absolute  of  earthly  sovereigns,  fashion. 

Here,  then,  lies  the  gist  of  the  whole  difficulty.  Fashion 
propagates  itself  downward.  Established  and  upheld  by  the 
more  refined  and  opulent,  it  is  soon  caught  up  by  those  in 
less  conspicuous  walks.  It  thus  spreads  itself  over  the  whole 


APPENDIX.  319 

face  of  society,  and,  becoming  allied  with  other  principles,  is 
planted  deep  in  the  habits  and  associations  of  a  people.  It 
is  preeminently  so  with  drinking  usages.  Immemorial  cus 
tom  ;  the  example  of  those  whose  education  or  position  gives 
them  a  commanding  sway  over  the  opinions  and  practice  of 
others ;  appetite,  with  them  who  have  drunk  till  what  was 
once  but  compliance  with  usage,  is  now  an  imperious  craving  ; 
the  interest  of  many,  who  thrive  by  the  traffic  in  intoxicating 
drinks,  or  by  the  follies  into  which  they  betray  men — here 
are  causes  which  so  fortify  and  strengthen  these  usages,  that 
they  seem  to  defy  all  change.  But  let  us  not  despair.  We 
address  those  who  are  willing  to  think,  and  who  are  accus 
tomed  to  bring  every  question  to  the  stern  test  of  utility  and 
duty.  To  these,  then,  we  appeal. 

Drinking  usages  are  the  chief  cause  of  intemperance ;  and 
these  usages  derive  their  force  and  authority,  in  the  first 
instance,  wholly  from  those  who  give  law  to  fashion.  Let  this 
be  considered.  Do  you  ask  for  the  treacherous  guide,  who, 
with  winning  smiles  and  honeyed  accents,  leads  men  forward 
from  one  degree  of  indulgence  to  another,  till  they  are  besot 
ted  and  lost  ?  Seek  him  not  in  the  purlieus  of  the  low  grog 
shop  ;  seek  him  not  in  any  scenes  of  coarse  and  vulgar 
revelry.  He  is  to  be  found  where  they  meet  who  are  the 
observed  of  all  observers.  There,  in  the  abodes  of  the  rich 
and  admired ;  there,  amidst  all  the  enchantments  of  luxury 
and  elegance ;  where  friend  pledges  friend ;  where  wine  is 
invoked  to  lend  new  animation  to  gaiety  and  impart  new 
brilliancy  to  wit ;  in  the  sparkling  glass,  which  is  raised  even 
by  the  hand  of  beautiful  and  lovely  woman,  there  is  the  most 
dangerous  decoy.  Can  that  be  unsafe  which  is  thus  associated 
with  all  that  is  fair  and  graceful  in  woman,  with  all  that  is 
attractive  and  brilliant  in  man  ?  Must  not  that  be  proper 
and  even  obligatory,  which  has  the  deliberate  and  time- 


320  APPENDIX. 

honored  sanction  of  those  who  stand  before  the  world  as  the 
"  glass  of  fashion,"  and  "  rose  of  the  fair  state  ?" 

Thus  reason  the  great  proportion  of  men.  They  are  look 
ing  continually  to  those  who,  in  their  estimation,  are  more 
favored  of  fortune  or  more  accomplished  in  mind  and  man 
ners.  We  do  not  regulate  our  watches  more  carefully  or 
more  universally  by  the  town  clock,  than  do  nine-tenths  of 
mankind  take  their  tone  from  the  residue,  who  occupy  places 
towards  which  all  are  struggling. 

Let  the  responsibiltty  of  these  drinking  usages  be  put, 
then,  where  it  justly  belongs.  When  you  visit,  on  some 
errand  of  mercy,  the  abodes  of  the  poor  and  afflicted  ;  when 
you  look  in  on  some  home  which  has  been  made  dark  by 
drunkenness, — where  hearts  are  desolate  and  hearths  are 
cold ;  where  want  is  breaking  in  as  an  armed  man  ;  where 
the  wife  is  heart-broken  or  debased,  and  children  are  fast 
demoralizing ;  where  little  can  be  heard  but  ribaldry,  blas 
phemy  and  obscenity, — friends!  would  you  connect  effect 
with  cause,  and  trace  this  hideous  monster  back  to  its  true 
parent,  let  your  thoughts  fly  away  to  some  abode  of  wealth 
and  refinement,  where  conviviality  reigns;  where,  amidst 
joyous  greetings  and  friendly  protestations,  and  merry 
shouts,  the  flowing  bowl  goes  round ;  and  there  you  will  see 
that  which  is  sure  to  make  drinking  everywhere  attractive, 
and  which,  in  doing  so,  never  fails,  and  cannot  fail,  to  make 
drunkenness  common. 

Would  we  settle  our  account,  then,  with  the  drinking 
usages  of  the  refined  and  respectable?  We  must  hold  them 
answerable  for  maintaining  corresponding  usages  in  other 
classes  of  society;  and  we  must  hold  them  answerable,  fur 
ther,  for  the  frightful  amount  of  intemperance  which  results 
from  those  usages.  We  must  hold  them  accountable  for  all 
the  sin,  and  all  the  unhappiness,  and  all  the  pinching  poverty, 
and  all  the  nefarious  crimes  to  which  intemperance  gives 


APPENDIX.  321 

rise.  So  long  as  these  usages  maintain  their  place  among 
the  respectable,  so  long  will  drinking  and  drunkenness  abound 
through  all  grades  and  conditions  of  life.  Neither  the  power 
of  law  aimed  at  the  traffic  in  liquors,  nor  the  force  of  argu 
ment  addressed  to  the  understandings  and  consciences  of  the 
many,  will  ever  prevail  to  cast  out  the  fiend  drunkenness,  so 
long  as  they  who  are  esteemed  the  favored  few  uphold  with 
unyielding  hand,  the  practice  of  drinking. 

Hence,  the  question,  whether  this  monster  evil  shall  be 
abated,  resolves  itself  always  into  another  question ;  and  that 
is :  will  the  educated,  the  wealthy,  the  respectable,  persist  in 
sustaining  the  usages  which  produce  it  ?  Let  them  resolve 
that  these  usages  shall  no  longer  have  their  countenance,  and 
their  insidious  power  is  broken.  Let  them  resolve  that, 
wherever  they  go,  the  empty  wine  glass  shall  proclaim  their 
silent  protest;  and  fashion,  which  now  commands  us  to 
drink,  shall  soon  command  us,  with  all-potential  voice,  to 
abstain. 

Now,  what  is  there  in  these  usages  to  entitle  them  to  the 
patronage  of  the  wise  and  good  ?  Are  they  necessary  ?  Are 
they  safe  or  useful  ? 

Unless  they  can  show  some  offset  to  the  vast  amount  of 
evil  which  they  occasion,  they  ought  surely  to  be  ruled  out 
of  court.  But  is  any  one  prepared  to  maintain  that  these 
DRINKING  USAGES  are  necessary — that  it  is  necessary,  or 
even  useful,  that  men  should  use  intoxicating  liquors  as  a 
beverage?  Do  they  add  vigor  to  muscle,  or  strength  to 
intellect,  or  warmth  to  the  heart,  or  rectitude  to  the  con 
science?  The  experience  of  thousands,  and  even  millions, 
has  answered  this  question.  In  almost  every  age  and  quarter 
of  the  world,  but  especially  within  the  last  twenty-five  years, 
and  in  our  own  land,  many  have  made  trial  of  entire  absti 
nence  from  all  that  can  intoxicate.  How  few  of  them  will 
confess  that  they  have  suffered  from  it,  either  in  health  of 


322  APPENDIX. 

body,  or  elasticity  of  spirits,  or  energy  and  activity  of  mind ! 
How  many  will  testify  that  in  each  of  these  respects  they 
were  sensible  gainers  from  the  time  they  renounced  the  use 
of  all  alcoholic  stimulants ! 

But,  if  neither  useful  or  necessan>-,  can  it  be  contended  that 
these  drinking  customs  are  harmless  ?  Are  they  not  expen 
sive  ?  Many  a  moderate  drinker,  did  he  reckon  up  accurately 
the  cost  of  this  indulgence,  would  discover  that  it  forms  one 
of  his  heaviest  burdens.  No  taxes,  says  Franklin,  are  so 
oppressive*  as  those  which  men  levy  on  themselves.  Appe 
tite  and  fashion,  vanity  and  ostentation,  constitute  our  most 
rapacious  tax-gatherers.  It  is  computed  by  Mr.  Porter,  an 
English  statistician  of  distinguished  ability,  but  of  no  special 
interest  in  the  subject  which  we  are  now  discussing,  that  the 
laboring  people  of  Great  Britain,  exclusive  of  the  middle  or 
higher  classes,  expend  no  less  than  £53,000,000  ($250,000,000) 
every  year  on  alcoholic  liquors  and  tobacco !  There  is  little 
doubt  that  the  amount  directly  or  indirectly  consumed  in 


*  "  My  companion  at  the  press,"  says  Franklin,  speaking  of  his 
life  as  a  journeyman  printer  in  London,  "  drank  every  day  a  pint 
before  breakfast,  a  pint  at  breakfast,  with  his  bread  and  cheese,  a 
pint  between  breakfast  and  dinner,  a  pint  at  dinner,  a  pint  in  the 
afternoon  about  six  o'clock,  and  another  when  he  had  done  his  day's 
work.  I  thought  it  a  detestable  custom ;  but  it  was  necessary,  he 
supposed,  to  drink  strong  beer,  that  he  might  be  strong  to  labor.  I 
endeavored  to  convince  him  that  the  bodily  strength  afforded  by 
beer  could  only  be  in  proportion  to  the  grain  or  flour  dissolved  in 
the  water  of  which  it  was  made ;  that  there  was  more  flour  in  a 
pennyworth  of  bread  ;  and,  therefore,  if  he  could  eat  that  with  a  pint 
of  water,  it  would  give  him  more  strength  than  a  quart  of  beer.  He 
drank  on,  however,  and  had  four  or  five  shillings  to  pay  out  of  his 
wages  every  Saturday  night  for  that  vile  liquor,  —  an  expense  which 
T  was  free  from;  and  thus  these  poor  devils  keep  themselves  always 
under." — See  Dr.  Franklin's  Lije,  written  by  himself. 


APPENDIX.  323 

Pennsylvania*  annually  for  the  same  indulgence  equals 
$10,000,000, — a  sum  which,  could  it  be  saved  for  four  suc 
cessive  years,  would  pay  the  debt  which  now  hangs  like  an 
incubus  on  the  energies  of  the  Commonwealth.  In  wasting 
$250,000,000  every  year,  the  laboring  population  of  Britain 
put  it  beyond  the  power  of  any  government  to  avert  from 
multitudes  of  them  the  miseries  of  want.  "Were  but  a  tithe 
of  that  sum  wrenched  from  the  hands  of  toil-worn  labor,  and 
buried  in  the  Thames  or  the  ocean,  we  should  all  regard  it 
as  an  act  of  stupendous  folly  and  guilt.  Yet  it  were  infi 
nitely  better  that  such  a  sum  should  be  cast  into  the  depths 
of  the  sea  than  that  it  should  be  expended  in  a  way  which 
must  debauch  the  morals,  and  destroy  the  health,  and  lay 
waste  the  personal  and  domestic  happiness  of  thousands.  If 
the  question  be  narrowed  down  to  one  of  mere  material 
wealth,  no  policy  can  be  more  suicidal  than  that  which 
upholds  usages,  the  inevitable  effect  of  which  is  to  paralyze 
the  productive  powers  of  a  people,  and  to  derange  the  proper 
and  natural  distribution  of  property.  Remember,  then,  he 
who  sustains  these  usages  sustains  the  most  prolific  source 
of  improvidence  and  want.  He  makes,  at  the  same  time,  an 
inroad  upon  his  own  personal  income,  which  is  but  a  loan 
from  God,  entrusted  to  him  for  his  own  and  others'  good. 

But  these  drinking  usages  are  not  only  expensive;  they 
are  unreasonable.  What  is  their  practical  effect  ?  It  is  that 
others  shall  decide  for  us  a  question,  which  ought  most 
clearly  to  be  referred  only  to  our  own  taste  and  sense  of 
duty.  "We  are  to  drink,  whether  it  be  agreeable  to  us  or 


*  In  Western  Pennsylvania,  one  of  the  most  valuable  products  is 
bituminous  coal.  Great  quantities  are  sent  down  the  Ohio,  and  are 
paid  for  in  whiskey.  I  was  informed  by  a  distinguished  citizen  of 
that  part  of  the  state,  that  every  year  shows  a  balance  against  the 
producers  of  coal,  and  in  favor  of  the  distillers! 


324  APPENDIX. 

not ;  whether  we  think  it  right  or  not ;  whether  we  think  it 
safe  or  not.  Moreover — and  this  is  sufficiently  humiliating 
— we  are  to  drink  precisely  when,  and  precisely  where,  others 
prescribe.  It  has  been  said  that,  in  some  parts  of  our  coun 
try,  one  must  either  drink  with  a  man  who  invites  him  or 
fight.  It  is  not  long  since,  in  every  part  of  it,  one  must 
either  drink,  when  invited,  or  incur  the  frowns  and  jeers  of 
those  who  claimed  to  be  arbiters  of  propriety.  And,  even 
now,  he  or  she  who  will  not  drink  at  all,  or  will  drink  only 
when  their  own  reason  and  inclination  bid,  must  not  be  sur 
prised  if  they  provoke  invective  or  ridicule.  And  is  a  bondage 
like  this  to  be  upheld  ?  Does  it  become  free  born  Americans, 
who  boast  so  much  of  liberty,  to  bow  down  their  necks  to  a 
servitude  so  unrelenting,  and  yet  so  absurd  ? 

A  German  nobleman  once  paid  a  visit  to  Great  Britain, 
when  the  practice  of  toasting  and  drinking  healths  was  at  its 
height.  Wherever  he  went,  during  a  six  months'  tour,  he 
found  himself  obliged  to  drink,  though  never  so  loth.  He 
must  pledge  his  host  and  his  hostess.  He  must  drink  with 
every  one  who  would  be  civil  to  him,  and  with  every  one, 
too,  who  wished  a  convenient  pretext  for  taking  another 
glass.  He  must  drink  a  bumper  in  honor  of  the  king  and 
queen,  in  honor  of  church  and  state,  in  honor  of  the  army 
and  navy.  How  often  did  he  find  himself  retiring  with 
throbbing  temples  and  burning  cheek  from  these  scenes  of 
intrusive  hospitality !  At  length  his  visit  drew  to  a  close ; 
and  to  requite,  in  some  measure,  the  attentions  which  had 
been  lavished  upon  him,  he  made  a  grand  entertainment. 
Assembling  those  who  had  done  him  honor,  he  gathered  them 
round  a  most  sumptuous  banquet,  and  feasted  them  to  their 
utmost  content.  The  tables  were  then  cleared.  Servants 
entered  with  two  enormous  hams ;  one  was  placed  at  each 
end ;  slices  were  cut  and  passed  round  to  each  guest,  when 
the  host  rose,  and  with  all  gravity  said  :  "  Gentlemen,  I  give 


APPENDIX.  325 

you  the  king!  please  eat  to  his  honor."  His  guests  pro 
tested.  They  had  dined ;  they  were  Jews ;  they  were 
already  surcharged  through  his  too  generous  cheer.  But  he 
was  inflexible.  "  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "  for  six  months  you 
have  compelled  me  to  drink  at  your  bidding.  Is  it  too  much 
that  you  should  now  eat  at  mine  ?  I  have  been  submissive  : 
why  should  you  not  follow  my  example  ?  You  will  please  do 
honor  to  your  king !  You  shall  then  be  served  with  another 
slice  in  honor  of  the  queen,  another  to  the  prosperity  of  the 
royal  family,  and  so  on  to  the  end  of  the  chapter." 

But,  waiving  the  absurdity  and  costliness  of  these  usages, 
let  me  ask  if  they  are  safe.  No  one  who  drinks  can  be  per 
fectly  certain  that  he  may  not  die  a  drunkard.  Numbers, 
which  defy  all  computation,  have  gone  this  road,  who  were 
once  as  self-confident  as  any  of  us  can  be.  No  one,  again, 
who  drinks,  can  be  certain  that  he  may  not,  in  some 
unguarded  hour,  fall  into  a  debauch,  in  which  he  shall  com 
mit  some  error  or  perpetrate  some  crime  that  will  follow 
him,  with  shame  and  sorrow,  all  his  days.  How  many  a 
young  man,  by  one  such  indiscretion,  has  cast  a  cloud  over 
all  his  prospects  for  life !  You  have  read  Shakspeare's 
"  Othello,"  the  most  finished  and  perfect,  perhaps,  of  all  his 
tragedies.  What  is  it  but  a  solemn  Temperance  lecture? 
Whence  come  all  the  horrors  that  cluster  round  the  closing 
scenes  of  that  awful  and  magnificent  drama  ?  Is  it  not  from 
the  wine  with  which  lago  plied  Cassio  ?  What  is  lago  him 
self  but  a  human  embodiment  of  the  Great  Master  of  Evil  ? 
And,  as  that  Master  goes  abroad  over  the  earth  seeking 
whom  he  may  destroy,  where  does  he  find  a  more  potent 
instrument  than  the  treacherous  wine  cup?  This  dark 
tragedy,  with  its  crimes  and  sorrows,  is  but  an  epitome,  a 
faint  transcript,  of  ten  thousand  tragedies  which  are  all  the 
time  enacting  on  the  theatre  of  our  daily  life.  How  many 
are  there  at  this  moment,  who,  from  the  depths  of  agonized 

NOTT.  28 


326  APPENDIX. 

and  remorseful  hearts,  can  echo  the  words  of  Othello's  sobered 
but  almost  frenzied  lieutenant,  "0  thou  invisible  spirit  of 
wine  !  if  thou  hast  no  name  to  be  known  by,  let  us  call  thee 
devil !"  "  That  men  should  put  an  enemy  in  their  mouths 
to  steal  away  their  brains !  That  we  should,  with  joy,  pleas- 
ance,  revel  and  applause,  transform  ourselves  into  beasts !" 
"  Oh  !  I  have  lost  my  reputation  !  I  have  lost  the  immortal 
part  of  myself,  and  what  remains  is  bestial, — my  reputation, 
lago,  my  reputation  !"  "  To  be  now  a  sensible  man,  by  and 
by  a  fool,  and  presently  a  beast !  O  strange  !  Every  inordi 
nate  cup  is  unblessed,  and  the  ingredient  is  a  devil."  In 
this  land,  and  in  our  day,  there  are  few  cups  which,  for  the 
young  and  excitable,  are  not  "  inordinate."  Wines  that  are 
charged  high  with  brandy,  or  brewed  in  the  distillery  of 
some  remorseless  fabricator,  are  never  safe.  Among  wine 
proverbs,  there  are  two  which  are  now  more  than  ever  signi 
ficant  of  truth :  "  The  most  voluptuous  of  assassins  is  the 
bottle;"  "Bacchus  has  drowned  more  than  Neptune." 

It  is  not  the  opinion  of  "temperance  fanatics"  merely, 
that  adjudges  drinking  to  be  hazardous.  It  is  so  in  their 
estimation,  who  are  close,  practical  observers  and  actors  in 
life.  Mr.  Jefferson  is  said  to  have  expressed  his  conviction 
—  the  result  of  long  and  various  experience — that  no  man 
should  be  entrusted  with  office  who  drank.  I  have  now 
before  me  evidence,  still  more  definite,  in  the  two-fold  system 
of  rates  proposed  to  be  applied  in  one  of  our  largest  cities 
by  the  same  life  insurance  company.  The  one  set  of  rates 
is  adapted  to  those  who  use  intoxicating  liquors ;  the  other, 
to  those  who  do  not  use  them  at  all.  Suppose  that  you  wish 
your  life  to  be  assured  to  the  extent  of  $1000,  and  that  you 
are  twenty  years  of  age.  If  you  practice  total  abstinence, 
the  rate  will  be  $11.60  per  annum  ;  if  you  use  intoxicating 
drinks,  it  will  De  £14.70.  At  twenty-five  years  of  age,  the 
rates  will  be  as  $13.30  to  $17;  at  thirty  years  of  age,  as 


APPENDIX.  327 

$15.40  to  $19.60.  I  have  also  before  me  the  returns  of  two 
beneficial  societies,  in  one  of  which  the  principle  of  total 
abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  liquors  was  observed,  while 
in  the  other  it  was  not.  The  result  has  been  that,  with  the 
same  number  of  members  in  each,  the  deaths  in  one,  during  a 
given  period,  were  but  seventy-seven  ;  whereas,  in  the  other, 
they  were  one  hundred  and  ten  !  making  the  chances  of  life  as 
ten  to  seven  in  their  favor  who  practice  total  abstinence.  This 
result  need  not  so  much  astonish  us,  when  we  are  told,  on 
the  authority  of  persons  who  are  said  to  have  made  careful 
and  conscientious  inquiry,  that,  of  all  males  who  use  intoxi 
cating  liquors,  one  in  thirteen  becomes  intemperate. 

Here,  then,  are  results  reached  by  men  of  business,  when 
engaged  in  a  mere  calculation  of  probabilities.  Drinking, 
according  to  their  estimates,  is  hazardous — hazardous  to 
life  and  property,  hazardous  to  reputation  and  virtue.  Is  it 
not  wise,  then,  to  shun  that  hazard  ?  Is  it  not  our  duty  ? 
Is  not  this  a  case  in  which  the  Savior's  injunction  applies : 
"  If  thy  right  eye  offend  thee,  pluck  it  out  and  cast  it  from 
thee  ;  if  thy  right  hand  offend  thee,  cut  it  off  and  cast  it  from 
thee  ;  for  it  is  better  for  thee  that  one  of  thy  members  should 
perish,  than  that  thy  whole  body  should  be  cast  into  hell  fire  ?" 
We  all  consider  it  madness  not  to  protect  our  children  and 
ourselves  against  small-pox  by  vaccination ;  and  this,  though 
the  chances  of  dying  by  the  disease  may  be  but  one  in  a 
thousand,  or  one  in  ten  thousand.  Drunkenness  is  a  disease 
more  loathsome  and  deadly  even  than  small-pox.  Its 
approaches  are  still  more  stealthy ;  and  the  specific  against 
it — total  abstinence  —  has  never  failed,  and  cannot  fail. 

But  let  us  admit  for  one  moment,  and  for  the  sake  of 
argument  (to  admit  it  on  other  ground  would  be  culpable) 
—  let  us  admit  that  you  can  drink  with  safety  to  yourself. 
Can  you  drink  with  safety  to  your  neighbor?  Are  you 
charged  with  no  responsibility  in  respect  to  him  ?  You 


APPENDIX. 

drink,  as  you  think,  within  the  limits  of  safety.  He,  in 
imitation  of  your  example,  drinks  also,  but  passes  that  unseen, 
unknown  line,  within  which,  for  him,  safety  lies.  Is  not 
your  indulgence,  then,  a  stumbling-block  —  ay,  perchance,  a 
fatal  stumbling-block  in  his  way  ?  Is  it  not,  in  principle,  the 
very  case  contemplated  by  St.  Paul,  when  he  said :  "  It  is 
good  neither  to  eat  flesh,  NOR  TO  DRINK  WINE,  nor  anything 
whereby  thy  brother  stumbleth  or  is  offended,  or  is  made  weak?" 
Yonder  are  the  young  and  inexperienced,  without  habits  of 
self-control,  and  with  fiery  appetites.  Would  vou  have  them 
do  as  you  do?  Yonder  is  one  who  is  just  on  the  verge  of 
the  precipice  that  will  plunge  him  into  shame  and  wo  unut 
terable  ;  are  you  willing  that  he  should  find  in  your  daily 
potations  a  specious  apology  for  his  own  ?  Or  yonder  is  one 
who  is  already  a  bondman  to  this  fearful  vice,  but  who  feels 
his  debasement,  and  would  gladly  be  once  more  free ;  will 
you  do  that  in  his  presence  which  will  discourage  him  from 
striking  boldly  for  emancipation  ?  Nay,  it  may  be  that  he  is 
even  now  struggling  bravely  to  be  free.  He  has  dashed  away 
the  cup  of  sorcery,  and  is  practicing  that  which,  to  him,  is 
the  only  alternative  to  ruin.  Is  it  well,  Christian  —  follower 
of  Him  who  sought  not  his  own,  and  went  about  doing  good 
—  is  it  well  that  from  you  should  proceed  an  influence  to 
press  him  back  to  his  cups?  —  that  you,  by  your  example, 
should  proclaim,  that  not  to  drink  is  to  be  over  scrupulous 
and  mean  spirited?  —  that  at  your  table,  in  your  drawing- 
room,  he  should  encounter  the  fascination  which  he  finds  it 
so  hard  to  withstand,  so  fatal  to  yield  to  ? 

Nineteen  years  ago,  I  knew  an  instructor  who  stood  in 
relations  most  intimate  to  three  hundred  students  of  a  college. 
The  disorders  which  occasionally  invade  such  institutions, 
and  the  disgrace  and  ruin  which  are  incurred  by  so  many 
promising  young  men,  result  almost  exclusively  from  the 
use  of  intoxicating  liquors.  This  fact  had  so  imprinted 


APPENDIX.  329 

itself  on  this  instructor's  mind,  that  he  made  a  strenuous 
effort  to  induce  the  whole  of  this  noble  band  to  declare  for 
that  which  was  then  considered  the  true  principle — total 
abstinence  from  distilled  spirits.  Fermented  stimulants  were 
not  included ;  but  it  was  pointedly  intimated  that  intoxication 
on  wine  or  beer  would  be  a  virtual  violation  of  the  engage 
ment.  The  whole  number,  with  perhaps  two  or  three  excep 
tions,  acquiesced ;  and,  for  a  few  months,  the  effect  was  most 
marked  in  the  increased  order  of  the  institution  and  the 
improved  bearing  of  its  inmates.  Soon,  however,  there  were 
aberrations.  Yourg  men  would  resort  occasionally  to  hotels, 
and  drink  champagne ;  or  they  would  indulge  in  beer  at 
eating-houses.  The  evil  which,  at  one  time,  seemed  dammed 
out,  was  about  to  force  itself  back ;  and  the  question  arose, 
what  could  be  done  ?  Then  that  professor  came  to  the  con 
clusion  that,  for  these  young  men  at  least,  there  was  no 
safety  but  in  abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  liquors.  He 
had  often  protested  against  including  wine  in  the  same  cate 
gory  with  ardent  spirits.  But  the  wine  these  young  men 
drank  was  as  fatal  to  them  and  to  college  discipline  as  rum  ; 
and  the  simple  alternative  was  between  continued  excesses, 
on  the  one  hand,  or  total  abstinence  from  all  intoxicating 
beverage,  on  the  other.  Under  such  circumstances,  this 
professor  did  not  long  hesitate.  He  determined  to  urge  and 
exhort  those  for  whose  welfare  he  was  so  fearfully  responsible, 
to  the  only  course  which  was  safe  for  them.  But  there  was 
one  huge  difficulty  in  his  way.  It  was  the  bottle  of  Madeira 
which  stood  every  day  upon  his  own  table.  He  felt  that, 
from  behind  that  bottle,  his  plea  in  behalf  of  abstinence  from 
all  vinous  potations  would  sound  somewhat  strangely.  He 
was  not  ready  to  encounter  the  appeal  from  theory  to  prac 
tice,  which  all  are  so  prompt  to  make — none  more  prompt 
than  the  young — when  they  deal  with  the  teachers  of 
unwholesome  doctrine.  He  determined,  therefore,  to  prepare 
NOTT.  *2S 


330  APPENDIX. 

himself  for  his  duty,  by  removing  every  hindrance  which  his 
own  example  could  place  in  the  way  of  the  impression  which 
he  was  bent  upon  producing.  Did  he  act  well  and  wisely  ? 
Ye  fathers  and  mothers,  who  know  with  what  perils  the 
young  are  encompassed  when  they  go  forth  into  the  world, 
would  you  have  advised  him  to  cling  to  his  wine  ?  Or  you, 
who  may  be  about  to  commit  a  fiery  and  unstable  son  to  a 
teacher's  care  and  guidance,  would  you  prefer  that  this 
teacher's  example  and  influence  should  be  for  wine  drinking 
or  against  it  ? 

But  if,  in  your  judgment,  that  professor  stands  acquitted 
—  nay,  if  you  actually  applaud  his  course,  what,  permit  me 
to  ask,  is  your  duty? — yours,  fathers  and  mothers!  yours, 
sisters  and  brothers !  yours,  employers  and  teachers !  There 
is  not  one  of  you  but  has  influence  over  others,  and  that 
influence  is  much  greater  than  you  are  apt  to  imagine.  Is 
it  not  a  sacred  trust,  which  should  never  be  abused  ?  O 
parents!  do  you  consider,  as  you  ought,  how  closely  your 
children  observe  all  your  ways,  and  how  eagerly  and  reck 
lessly  they  imitate  them  ?  Employers !  do  you  estimate 
sufficiently  your  responsibility  in  regard  to  hirelings  and 
domestic  servants,  who  are  prompt  to  adopt  your  habits  and 
manners,  but  who  seldom  possess  the  self-control  which  your 
education  and  position  constrain  you  to  exercise?  Your 
precepts,  enjoining  sobriety  and  moderation,  pass  for  little. 
Your  practice,  giving  color  and  countenance  to  self-indul 
gence,  sinks  deep  into  their  hearts.  One  hour  spent  by  you 
in  thoughtless  conviviality  may  plant  the  seeds  of  sin  and 
ruin  in  those  by  whom  you  are  attended !  And  the  crowd 
of  wives,  mothers,  sisters,  daughters,  that  I  see  before  me, — 
do  they  always  consider  with  what  wizard  power  they  rule 
over  man's  sterner  nature  ?  It  is  our  pride  and  privilege  to 
defer  to  your  sex.  At  all  periods  of  life,  and  in  all  relations, 
you  speak  with  a  voice  which  penetrates  to  our  gentler  and 


APPENDIX.  331 

nobler  sentiments.  Most  of  all  is  this  the  case  when  you 
burst  into  early  womanhood,  encompassed  by  bright  hopes 
and  fond  hearts — when  the  Creator  adorns  you  with  graces 
and  charms  that  draw  towards  you  the  dullest  souls.  Ah ! 
how  little  do  you  appreciate,  then,  the  sway  which,  for  weal 
or  wo,  you  wield  over  those  of  our  sex  who  are  your  com 
panions  and  friends !  Is  that  sway  always  wise  and  holy  ? 
Is  it  always  on  the  side  of  temperance  and  self-command  ? 
Alas !  alas !  could  the  grave  give  up  its  secrets,  what  tales 
of  horror  would  it  not  reveal  of  woman's  perverted  influence 
—  of  woman  thoughtlessly  leading  man,  through  the  intoxi 
cating  cup,  to  the  brink  of  utter  and  hopeless  ruin !  One 
case  of  the  kind  was  mentioned  to  me  lately.  It  is  but  one 
of  many. 

A  young  man,  of  no  ordinary  promise,  unhappily  con 
tracted  habits  of  intemperance.  His  excesses  spread  anguish 
and  shame  through  a  large  and  most  respectable  circle.  The 
earnest  and  kind  remonstrance  of  friends,  however,  at  length 
led  him  to  desist ;  and  feeling  that  for  him  to  drink  was  to 
die,  he  came  to  the  solemn  resolution  that  he  would  abstain 
entirely  for  the  rest  of  his  days.  Not  long  after  he  was  in 
vited  to  dine,  with  other  young  persons,  at  the  house  of  a 
friend.  Friend  !  did  I  say  ?  pardon  me  :  he  could  hardly  be 
a  friend  who  would  deliberately  place  on  the  table  before  one 
lately  so  lost,  now  so  marvellously  redeemed,  the  treacherous 
instrument  of  his  downfall.  But  so  it  was.  The  wine  was 
in  their  feasts.  He  withstood  the  fascination,  however,  until 
a  young  lady,  whom  he  desired  to  please,  challenged  him  to 
drink.  He  refused.  With  banter  and  ridicule  she  soon 
cheated  him  out  of  all  his  noble  purposes,  and  her  challenge 
was  accepted.  He  no  sooner  drank  than  he  felt  that  the 
demon  was  still  alive,  and  that  from  temporary  sleep  he  was 
now  waking  with  tenfold  strength.  "Now,"  said  he  to  a 
friend  who  sat  next  to  him,  "  now  I  have  tasted  again,  and  I 


332  APPENDIX. 

drink  till  I  die."  The  awful  pledge  was  kept.  Not  ten  days 
had  passed  before  the  ill-fated  youth  fell  under  the  horrors 
of  delirium  tremens;  and  was  borne  to  a  grave  of  shame  and 
dark  despair.  Who  would  envy  the  emotions  with  which 
that  young  lady,  if  not  wholly  dead  to  duty  and  to  pity, 
retraced  her  part  in  a  scene  of  gaiety  which  smiled  only  to 
betray  ? 

Let  me  not  be  misunderstood.  I  do  not  maintain  that 
drinking  wine  is,  in  the  language  of  the  schools,  sin  per  se. 
There  may  be  circumstances  under  which  to  use  intoxicating 
liquors  is  no  crime.  There  have  been  times  and  places  in 
which  the  only  intoxicating  beverage  was  light  wine,  and 
where  habits  of  inebriation  were  all  but  unknown.  But  is 
that  our  case  ?  Distillation  has  filled  our  land  with  alcoholic 
stimulants  of  the  most  fiery  and  deleterious  character.  Our 
wines,  in  a  large  proportion  of  instances,  are  but  spurious 
compounds,  without  grape  juice,  and  with  a  large  infusion  of 
distilled  spirits,  and  even  of  more  unhealthy  ingredients.  As 
long  ago  as  the  days  of  Addison,  we  read  in  the  Taller - 
(No.  131)  that  in  London  there  was  "  a  fraternity  of  chemi 
cal  operators,  who  worked  under  ground  in  holes,  caverns 
and  dark  retirements,  to  conceal  their  mysteries  from  the 
observation  of  mankind.  These  subterranean  philosophers  are 
daily  employed  in  the  transmutation  of  liquors ;  and,  by  the 
power  of  magical  drugs  and  incantations,  raising,  under  the 
streets  of  London,  the  choicest  products  of  the  hills  and  valleys 
of  France.  They  can  squeeze  claret  out  of  the  sloe,  and  draw 
champagne  out  of  an  apple."  The  practice  of  substituting 
these  base  counterfeits  for  wine  extracted  from  the  grape 
has  become  so  prevalent  in  this  country,  that  well-informed 
and  conscientious  persons  aver  that^  for  every  gallon  of  wine 
imported  from  abroad,  ten  or  more  are  manufactured  at 
home.  "  Five  and  twenty  years  ago,"  says  the  late  J.  Fenni- 
more  Cooper,  "  when  I  first  visited  Europe,  I  was  astonished 


APPENDIX.  333 

to  see  wine  drunk  in  tumblers.  I  did  not  at  first  understand 
that  half  of  what  I  had  been  drinking  at  home  was  brandy 
under  the  name  of  wine." 

These  adulterations  and  fabrications  in  the  wine  trade  are 
not  confined  to  our  country  or  to  England.  They  abound 
where  the  wine  flourishes  in  greatest  abundance.  "  Though 
the  pure  juice  of  the  grape,"  says  our  eminent  countryman, 
Horatio  Greenough  (the  sculptor),  can  be  furnished  here  (in 
Florence)  for  one  cent  a  bottle,  yet  the  retailers  choose  to 
gain  a  fraction  of  profit  by  the  admission  of  water  or  drugs." 
He  adds,  "  How  far  the  destructive  influence  of  wine,  as  here 
used,  is  to  be  ascribed  to  the  grape,  and  how  far  it  is 
augmented  and  aggravated  by  poisonous  adulterations,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  say."  McMullen,  a  recent  writer  on 
wines,  states  that  in  France  there  are  "  extensive  establish 
ments  (existing  at  Cette  and  Marseilles)  for  the  manufacture 
of  every  description  of  wine,  both  white  and  red,  to  resemble 
the  produce  not  only  of  France,  but  of  all  other  wine  coun 
tries.  It  is  no  uncommon  practice  with  speculators  engaged 
in  this  trade  to  purchase  and  ship  wines,  fabricated  in  the 
places  named,  to  other  ports  on  the  continent ;  and,  being 
branded  and  marked  as  the  genuine  wines  usually  are,  they  are 
then  transshipped  to  the  markets  for  which  they  are  designed, 
of  which  the  United  States  is  the  chief.  Such  is  the  extent 
to  which  this  traffic  is  carried,  that  one  individual  has  been 
referred  to  in  the  French  ports  who  has  been  in  the  habit  of 
shipping,  four  times  in  the  year,  twenty  thousand  bottles  of 
champagne,  not  the  product  of  the  grape,  but  fabricated  in 
these  wine-factories.  It  is  well  known  that  the  imposition  of 
these  counterfeit  wines  has  arrived  at  such  a  pitch  as  to 
become  quite  notorious,  and  the  subject  of  much  complaint, 
in  this  country  at  least."* 

*  McMullen  on  Wines,  p.  172. 


334  APPENDIX. 

In  the  presence  of  facts  like  these,  I  ask,  what  is  our  duty  ? 
"Were  nine  out  of  ten  of  the  coins  or  bank  bills  which  circu 
late,  counterfeit,  we  should  feel  obliged  to  decline  them 
altogether.  We  should  sooner  dispense  entirely  with  such 
a  medium  of  circulation,  than  incur  the  hazard  which  would 
be  involved  in  using  it.  And,  even  if  we  could  discriminate 
unerringly  ourselves  between  the  spurious  and  the  genuine, 
we  should  still  abstain,  for  the  sake  of  others,  lest  our  example, 
in  taking  such  a  medium  at  such  a  time,  encourage  fabricators 
in  their  work  of  fraud,  and  lead  the  unwary  and  ignorant  to 
become  their  victims.  But,  in  such  a  case,  abstinence  would 
be  practiced  at  great  personal  inconvenience.  It  is  not  so 
with  abstinence  from  intoxicating  drinks.  That  can  subject 
us  to  no  inconvenience  worthy  to  be  compared  with  the 
personal  immunity  with  which  it  invests  us,  and  with  the 
consoling  consciousness  that  we  are  giving  no  encouragement 
to  fraud,  and  placing  no  stumbling  block  in  the  way  of  the 
weak  and  unwary. 

The  question,  then,  is  not  what  may  have  been  proper  in 
other  days  or  in  other  lands,  in  the  time  of  Pliny  or  of  Paul, 
but  what  is  proper  now,  and  in  our  own  land.  The  apostle 
points  us  to  a  case  in  which  to  eat  meat  might  cause  one's 
brother  to  offend ;  and  his  own  magnanimous  resolution, 
under  such  circumstances,  he  thus  avows,  "  If  meat  make  my 
brother  to  offend,  I  will  eat  no  more  while  the  world  stands" 
Thus  what  may  at  one  time  be  but  a  lawful  and  innocent 
liberty,  becomes  at  another  a  positive  sin.  The  true  question, 
then — the  only  practical  question  for  the  Christian  patriot 
and  philanthropist — is  this  :  "  Intemperance  abounds !  Ought 
not  my  personal  influence,  whether  by  example  or  by  precept, 
to  be  directed  to  its  suppression?  Can  it  be  suppressed 
while  our  present  drinking  usuages  continue  ?  In  a  country 
where  distilled  liquors  are  so  cheap  and  so  abundant,  and 
where  the  practice  of  adulterating  every  species  of  fermented 


APPENDIX.  335 

liquor  abounds — in  sucli  a  country  can  any  practical  and 
important  distinction  be  made  between  different  kinds  of 
intoxicating  liquors  ?  If  abstinence  is  to  be  practiced  at  all, 
as  a  prudential  or  a  charitable  act,  can  it  nave  much  practical 
value  unless  it  be  abstinence  from  all  that  can  intoxicate?" 
These  questions  are  submitted,  without  fear,  to  the  most 
deliberate  and  searching  scrutiny. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  conclude.  Neither  your  patience 
nor  my  own  physical  powers  will  permit  me  to  prosecute  this 
subject.  I  devoutly  hope  that,  in  the  remarks  which  I  have 
now  submitted,  I  have  offended  against  no  law  of  courtesy  or 
kindness.  I  wish  to  deal  in  no  railing  accusations,  no  wholesale 
denunciations.  When  Paul  appeared  before  the  licentious 
Felix,  he  reasoned  with  him,  we  are  told,  of  temperance.  It 
is  the  only  appeal  that  I  desire  to  make.  I  might  invoke 
your  passions  or  your  prejudices;  but  they  are  unworthy 
instruments,  which  he  will  be  slow  to  use  who  respects  him 
self;  and  they  are  instruments  which  generally  recoil  with 
violence  on  the  cause  that  employs  them.  There  is  enough 
in  this  cause  to  approve  itself  to  the  highest  reason  and  to 
the  most  upright  conscience.  Let  us  not  be  weary,  then,  in 
calling  them  to  our  aid.  If  we  are  earnest,  and  yet  patient ; 
if  we  speak  the  truth  in  love,  and  yet  speak  it  with  all  perse 
verance  and  all  faithfulness,  it  must  at  length  prevail.  But 
few  years  have  passed  since  some  of  us,  who  are  now  ardent 
in  this  good  work,  were  as  ignorant  or  sceptical  as  those 
whom  we  are  most  anxious  to  convince.  "We  then  thought 
ourselves  conscientious  in  our  doubts,  or  even  in  our  oppo 
sition.  Let  our  charity  be  broad  enough  to  concede  to  those 
who  are  not  yet  with  us  the  same  generous  construction  of 
motives  which  we  then  claimed  for  ourselves.  And  let  us 
resolve  that,  if  this  noble  cause  be  not  advanced,  it  shall  be 
through  no  fault  of  ours ;  that  our  zeal  and  our  discretion 
shall  go  hand  in  hand  ;  and  that  fervent  prayer  to  God  shall 


•336  APPENDIX. 

join  with  stern  and  indomitable  effort  to  secure  for  it  a 
triumph  alike  peaceful  and  permanent. 

It  was  a  glorious  consciousness  which  enabled  St.  Paul, 
when  about  to  take  leave  of  those  amongst  whom  he  had 
gone  preaching  the  kingdom  of  God,  to  say,  "  /  take  you  to 
record  this  day  that  I  am  pure  from  the  blood  of  all  men." 
May  this  consciousness  be  ours,  my  friends,  in  respect,  at 
least,  to  the  blood  of  drunkards !  May  not  one  drop  of  the 
blood  of  their  ruined  souls  be  found  at  last  spotting  our 
garments!  Are  we  ministers  of  Christ?  Are  we  servants 
and  followers  of  Him  who  taught  that  it  is  more  blessed  to 
give  than  to  receive  ?  Let  us  see  to  it,  that  no  blood  guilti 
ness  attaches  to  us  here.  We  can  take  a  course  which  will 
embolden  us  to  challenge  the  closest  inspection  of  our 
influence  as  it  respects  intemperance ;  which  will  enable  us 
to  enter  without  fear,  on  this  ground  at  least,  the  presence 
of  our  Judge.  May  no  false  scruples,  then,  no  fear  of  man 
which  bringeth  a  snare,  no  sordid  spirit  of  self-indulgence,  no 
unrelenting  and  unreasoning  prejudice  deter  us  from  doing 
that  over  which  we  cannot  fail  to  rejoice  when  we  come  to 
stand  before  the  Son  of  Man ! 


FROM  PREFACE  ON  THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  ALCO 
HOLIC  LIQUORS  IN  HEALTH  AND  DISEASE, 
BY  WM.  B.  CARPENTER,  M.  D.,  F.  R.  S.,  F.  G.  S. 

A  FAIR  trial  has  been  given,  both  in  this  country  and  in  the 
United  States,  to  societies  which  advocated  the  principle  of 
Temperance,  and  which  enlisted  in  their  support  a  large  number 
of  intelligent  and  influential  men ;  but  it  has  been  found  that 
little  or  no  good  has  been  effected  by  them  among  the  classes 
on  whom  it  was  most  desirable  that  their  influence  should  be 


APPENDIX.  337 

exerted,  except  where  those  who  were  induced  to  join  them 
really  adopted  the  total  abstinence  principle.  Though  the 
author  agrees  fully  with  those  who  maintain  that,  if  all  the 
world  would  be  really  temperate,  there  would  be  no  need  of 
total  abstinence  societies,  the  author  cannot  adopt  the  infer 
ence,  that  those  who  desire  to  promote  the  temperance  cause 
may  legitimately  rest  satisfied  with  this  measure  of  advocacy. 
For  sad  experience  has  shown  that  a  large  proportion  of 
mankind  cannot,  partly  for  want  of  the  self-restraint  which 
proceeds  from  moral  and  religious  culture,  be  temperate  in 
the  use  of  alcoholic  liquors ;  and  that  the  reformation  of  those 
who  have  acquired  habits  of  intemperance  cannot  be  accom 
plished  by  any  means  short  of  entire  abstinence  from 
fermented  liquors.  Further,  experience  has  shown  that  in 
the  present  dearth  of  effectual  education  among  the  masses, 
and  with  the  existing  temptations  to  intemperance  arising 
out  of  the  force  of  example,  the  almost  compulsory  drinking 
usuages  of  numerous  trades,  and  the  encouragement  which  in 
various  ways  is  given  to  the  abuse  of  alcoholic  liquors,  nothing 
short  of  total  abstinence  can  prevent  the  continuance,  in  the 
rising  generation,  of  the  terrible  evils  which  we  have  at 
present  to  deplore.  And,  lastly,  experience  has  also  proved 
that  this  reformation  cannot  be  carried  to  its  required  extent 
without  the  cooperation  of  the  educated  classes,  and  that 
their  influence  can  only  be  effectually  exerted  by  example. 
There  is  no  case  in  which  the  superiority  of  example  over 
mere  precept  is  more  decided  and  obvious  than  it  is  in  this. 
"  I  practice  total  abstinence  myself,"  is  found  to  be  worth  a 
thousand  exhortations;  and  the  lamentable  failure  of  the 
advocates  who  cannot  employ  this  argument  should  lead  all 
those  whose  position  calls  upon  them  to  exert  their  influence, 
to  a  serious  consideration  of  the  claims  which  their  duty  to 
society  should  set  up  in  opposition  to  their  individual  feelings 
of  taste  or  comfort. 
NOTT.  29 


338  APPENDIX. 

Among  the  most  common  objections  brought  against  the 
advocate  of  the  total  abstinence  principle  is  the  following  : 
"  That  the  abuse  of  a  thing  good  in  itself  does  not  afford  a 
valid  argument  against  the  right  use  of  it."  This  objection 
has  been  so  well  met  by  the  late  Archdeacon  Jeffreys,  of 
Bombay  (in  a  letter  to  the  Bombay  Courier},  that,  as  it  is 
one  peculiarly  likely  to  occur  to  the  mind  of  his  medical 
readers,  the  author  thinks  it  desirable  to  quote  a  part  of  his 
reply.  "  The  truth  is,"  he  says,  "  that  the  adage  is  only  true 
under  certain  general  limitations ;  and  that  out  of  these,  so 
far  from  being  true,  it  is  utterly  false,  and  a  mischievous 
fallacy.  And  the  limitations  are  these :  If  it  be  found  by 
experience  that,  in  the  general  practice  of  the  times  in  which 
we  live,  the  abuse  is  only  the  solitary  exception,  whereas  the 
right  use  is  the  general  rule,  so  that  the  whole  amount  of 
good  resulting  from  its  right  use  exceeds  the  whole  amount  of 
evil  resulting  from  its  partial  abuse,  then  the  article  in  question, 
whatever  it  be,  is  fully  entitled  to  the  benefit  of  the  adage ; 
and  it  would  not  be  the  absolute  and  imperative  duty  of  the 
Christian  to  give  it  up  on  account  of  its  partial  abuse.  This 
is  precisely  the  position  in  which  stand  all  the  gifts  of  Provi 
dence  and  all  the  enjoyments  of  life ;  for  there  is  not  one  of 
them  which  the  wickedness  of  man  does  not  more  or  less 
abuse.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  if  it  be  found  by  experience 
that  there  is  something  so  deceitful  and  ensnaring  in  the 
article  itself,  or  something  so  peculiarly  untoward  connected 
with  the  use  of  it  in  the  present  age,  that  the  whole  amount 
of  crime  and  misery  and  wretchedness  connected  with  the 
abuse  of  it  greatly  exceeds  the  whole  amount  of  benefit  arising 
from  the  right  use  of  it,  then  the  argument  becomes  a  mis 
chievous  fallacy ;  the  article  in  question  is  not  entitled  to  the 
benefit  of  it,  and  it  becomes  the  duty  of  every  good  man  to 
get  rid  of  it."  After  alluding  to  the  evidence  that  this  is 
preeminently  the  case  with  regard  to  alcoholic  liquors,  the 


APPENDIX.  339 

Archdeacon  continues :  "  We  have,  then,  established  our 
principle  in  opposition  to  the  philosophic  adage ;  taking  the 
duty  of  the  citizen  and  the  patriot  even  on  the  lowest  ground. 
But  Christian  self-denial  and  Christian  love  and  charity  go 
far  beyond  this.  St.  Paul  accounted  one  single  soul  so 
precious  that  he  would  on  no  account  allow  himself  in  any 
indulgence  that  tended  to  endanger  a  brother's  soul :  *  If 
meat  make  my  brother  to  offend,  I  will  eat  no  meat  while 
the  world  standeth,  lest  I  make  my  brother  to  offend.'  '  It 
is  good  neither  to  eat  flesh,  nor  to  drink  wine,  nor  anything 
whereby  thy  brother  stumbleth,  or  is  offended,  or  is  made 
weak.'  And  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  flesh  and  wine  are 
here  mentioned  by  Paul  as  '  good  creatures  of  God ;'  they 
are  not  intended  to  designate  things  evil  in  themselves. 
This  saying  of  St.  Paul  is  the  charter  of  teetotalism  ;  and  will 
remain  the  charter  of  our  noble  cause  so  long  as  the  world 
endures — so  long  as  there  remains  a  single  heart  to  love  and 
revere  this  declaration  of  the  holy,  self-denying  Paul." 

If,  then,  the  author  should  succeed  in  convincing  his  readers 
that  the  "  moderate  "  habitual  use  of  alcoholic  liquors  is  not 
beneficial  to  the  healthy  human  system ;  still  more,  if  they 
should  be  led  to  agree  with  him,  that  it  is  likely  to  be  inju 
rious — he  trusts  that  they  will  feel  called  upon,  by  the  fore 
going  considerations,  to  advocate  the  principle  of  total 
abstinence,  in  whatever  manner  they  may  individually  deem 
most  likely  to  be  effectual.  He  believes  it  to  be  in  the  power 
of  the  clerical  and  medical  professions  combined  so  to  influence 
the  opinion  and  practice  of  the  educated  classes  as  to  promote 
the  spread  of  this  principle  among  the  "  masses  "  to  a  degree 
which  no  other  agency  can  effect.  And  he  ventures  to  hope 
that,  whether  or  not  he  carries  his  readers  with  him  to  the 
full  extent  of  his  own  conclusions,  he  will,  at  any  rate,  have 
succeeded  in  convincing  them  that  so  much  is  to  be  said  on 
his  side  of  the  question,  that  it  can  no  longer  be  a  matter  of 


340  APPENDIX. 

indifference  what  view  is  to  be  taken  of  it;  and  that,  as 
"  universal  experience  "  has  been  put  decidedly  in  the  wrong 
with  regard  to  many  of  the  supposed  virtues  of  alcohol,  it  is, 
at  any  rate,  possible  that  its  other  attributes  rest  on  no  better 
foundation.  In  his  general  view  of  the  case,  he  has  the 
satisfaction  of  finding  himself  supported  by  the  recorded 
opinion  of  a  large  body  of  his  professional  brethren ;  upwards 
of  two  thousand  of  whom,  in  all  grades  and  degrees,  from  the 
court  physicians  and  leading  metropolitan  surgeons,  who  are 
conversant  with  the  wants  of  the  upper  ranks  of  society,  to 
the  humble  country  practitioner,  who  is  familiar  with  the 
requirements  of  the  artisan  in  his  workshop  and  the  laborer 
in  the  field,  have  signed  the  following  certificate : 

"  We,  the  undersigned,  are  of  opinion, 

"  1.  That  a  very  large  proportion  of  human  misery,  including 
poverty,  disease  and  crime,  is  induced  by  the  use  of  alcoholic  or 
fermented  liquors  as  beverages. 

"  2.  That  the  most  perfect  health  is  compatible  with  total  absti 
nence  from  all  such  intoxicating  beverages,  whether  in  the  form  of 
ardent  spirits,  or  as  wine,  beer,  ale,  porter,  cider,  &c. 

"3.  That  persons  accustomed  to  such  drinks  may,  with  perfect 
safety,  discontinue  them  entirely,  either  at  once,  or  gradually  after  a 
short  time. 

"  4.  That  total  and  universal  abstinence  from  alcoholic  beverages 
of  all  sorts  would  greatly  contribute  to  the  health,  the  prosperity,  the 
morality  and  the  happiness  of  the  human  race." 

No  medical  man,  therefore,  can  any  longer  plead  the 
singularity  of  the  total  abstinence  creed  as  an  excuse  for  his 
non-recognition  of  it;  and,  although  a  certain  amount  of 
moral  courage  may  be  needed  for  the  advocacy  and  the 
practice  of  it,  yet  this  is  an  attribute  in  which  the  author 
cannot  for  a  moment  believe  his  brethren  to  be  deficient. 
Judging  from  his  own  experience,  indeed,  he  may  say  that 
he  has  found  much  less  difficulty  in  the  course  he  has  taken 
than  he  anticipated  when  he  determined  on  it ;  and  that  he 


APPENDIX.  341 

has  met  with  a  cordial  recognition  of  its  propriety,  not  merely 
on  the  part  of  those  who  participated  in  his  opinions  but  did 
not  feel  called  upon  to  act  up  to  them  in  their  individual 
cases,  but  also  among  others  who  dissented  strongly  from  his 
scientific  conclusions,  and  who  consequently  had  no  more 
sympathy  with  his  principles  than  with  his  practice. 


«  d«k  faxan 


which  bom>  wed. 


DEC 


— 


•;.-: 


p  -E° 


l* 


'5 


JAN  1  8  2G05 


MAR  1  •  2005 


.  -  --• 


